“It Has Become Unbearable, Cannot Stand A Minute With Them”, Payal Tadvi

Mumbai: “Tumchi laayki faktha clerk bannyachi aahe (People like you can only be clerks),” a witness reportedly heard the accused telling Dr.Payal Tadvi. Tired by such humiliations and torture, Payal Tadvi hung herself in her hostel room on May 22, 2019, leaving behind her suicide note in which she has specified clearly about her reason to end her life. She has mentioned names of her three colleagues, with whom she worked. Many such stories of prolonged torture and blunt discrimination have been highlighted in the suicide note of the 26-year-old doctor.

Tadvi, a doctor belonging to the Bhil (of the Tadvi sub-caste) tribal community was allegedly tortured for over a year by three senior doctors – Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal – who hurled casteist slurs at her and kept her away from important jobs. All three accused are in jail and have moved the Bombay high court for bail.

Exactly two months after second year postgraduate, medical student Payal was found hanging from the ceiling of her hostel room at BYL Nair General Hospital on May 22, 2019. All this information was mentioned in a 1,203-page charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on July 23. Other important witnesses of the case include Payal’s close friend Snehal Shinde, who has given detail information about the case.

Also Read: Doctor Commits Suicide After Being Harassed By Her Colleagues

Shinde was the last person who spoke to Payal besides her mother Abeda Tadvi before she committed suicide. According to her statement, Snehal said, “My last call with Payal was around 4 pm. She told me about an incident that took place in the operation theatre only a few hours ago. The three seniors had yelled at her in front of other colleagues. According to me, this incident pushed to her take her life.”

Shinde further goes on narrating innumerable incidents which highlight the cause of Payal’s suicide. One of the witnesses, who was a roommate of one of the accused persons, has told the police that she had warned them against torturing Tadvi. “Don’t harass someone so much that they are pushed to kill themselves,” the witness had allegedly told the accused. The humiliation was so much so that Payal was not even allowed to enter the operation theatre by the accused. The suicide note that the police found from Tadvi’s mobile phone mentioned several incidents like these and the names of the accused.

Several other witnesses confirm that Payal had been continuously been tortured and hence the suicide note proves the worth of the case. Also, the forensic report attached to the charge sheet has confirmed that the handwriting on the note matches to Tadvi’s. the police have reported that the accused of the case had made efforts to destroy the note, who were also the first persons to enter the victim’s room and had informed the hospital staff about the incident.

Tadvi was one of the first doctors from her community, which is listed under the Scheduled Tribe category. And this incident has again raised questions about the caste discrimination in the country. What is more disturbing is that the lack of social consciousness is increasing and the dominant caste doctors violate the principle of dignity and equality with a junior colleague and yet consider themselves worthy of being doctors. In a typical Hindu society caste is a synonymous term with much internal violence. The logic of this caste and its hierarchy usually dominates its brutality that can affect one’s soul and inner consciousness. A young, talented and sensitive doctor who was unable to understand this brutality lived in an agony so much so that she ended her life.

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