Mumbai: On Wednesday police arrested third doctor Ankita Khandelwal the accused who allegedly harassed medical student Payal Tadvi.
The three accused doctors – Ankita Khandelwal, Bhakti Mehra, and Hema Ahuja – have been arrested and are likely to be produced in court today. Mehra and Ahuja were arrested on Tuesday.
The three doctors were arrested for allegedly abetting the post-graduate medical student Tadvi, who belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community, to end her life on May 22.
The accused have been booked under relevant provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Anti-Ragging Act, IT Act and Section 306 (Abduction for Suicide) of Indian Penal Code.
Protesters from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and other Dalit and tribal organizations earlier held protests outside the hospital.
In the meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took cognizance of the matter and requested the hospital administration to send a letter to the action taken in the matter.
“The NCW is deeply disturbed…It is a matter of serious concern,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma wrote in the letter addressed to hospital director Dr. Avinas Supe.
On Monday, the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission had issued a notice to the Dean of BYL Nair Hospital asking for a report on the action taken in the case.
Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has suspended three doctors. The accused doctors wrote a letter to the association on Monday urging them to ensure ‘fair’ investigation of the issue.
Tadvi, 26, hanged herself in her room last Wednesday, after which her family alleged that doctors tortured her with racist abuses and castigating abuses because she belonged to the Scheduled Tribes.
