Mumbai | A friend of Dr Payal Tadvi, who committed suicide in Nair Hospital, due to incessant harassment and ragging has told HW News that she had confided in him that she was being tortured.
Romil Kakad, Dr Payal Tadvi’s friend said that almost six months ago she had messaged him about the torture. “She said her seniors are torturing her and she couldn’t take it any longer. She said she wanted to leave the college.”
He said that the seniors would not let Dr Payal take part in operations or let her enter in the operation theatre. “They wouldn’t let her conduct delivery as well. They used to insult her in front of patients,” he said. Dr Payal had also complained about this to her mother.
“They would even abuse her sometimes”, he added.
What happened in November 2018?
For a period of more than one month around November 2018, Payal was absconding. In this period she had messaged her friend about the torment. He has shared a few screenshots exclusively with HW News.
Romil shared snaps of his Whatsapp Chat with Tadvi, who had confessed to him about the mental torture she was facing, 6 months ago. In the conversation, she mentions suicide, jokingly. She wrote, “I think everyone is wondering whether I would commit suicide due to the immense harassment.”
The text messages are in Marathi, and in no particular order.
She told him that the seniors yelled at her in such a loud voice that it was audible even in other corners of the floor, and that this was an everyday issue.
They would not even let her assist in delivery (of a newborn) and Episiotomy(a surgical cut made at the opening of the vagina during childbirth).
Payal, at last, tired of the gruesome ordeal she had to go through every day, finally gave in and stopped coming to work, on a condition that they would change her Unit, the messages suggest.
When he asked her if the situation was still bad, she said, “It has been 7 months and while she had hoped the seniors would eventually get friendly, they have not. In fact, they were worse.”
Payal was full of life:
Payal had studied MBBS at GMC college in Miraj before enrolling in a post-graduate course at Nair Hospital. Romil said, “Payal was a bright student. She was the only person from her family to become a doctor. She was good at studies. She was a happy-go-lucky person.”
He added that Payal was a hard-working person and would, in fact, attend extra patients. “We never thought the harassment would lead to this extreme step,” he said.
Was she harassed because of her caste?
“I do not know about that. Whatever knowledge I have of the issue, I have shared it with you”, he asserted.
Meanwhile, a patient had spoken out on social network Twitter in aid of Tadvi.
A Twitter user called Anjali Khandare wrote,” I was admitted at NAIR Hospital last year in October. I have my self seen the way Dr Hema used to abuse her in front of the whole ward filled with patients. I have seen her almost crying. Culprits should be given punishment. May her soul RIP”.
The accused — Bhakti Mehere, Hema Ahuja and Ankita Khandelwal — were booked after their 26-year-old colleague Payal Tadvi at B Y L Nair Hospital here allegedly hanged herself at her hostel room last Wednesday.
Additional Sessions Judge R M Sadrani remanded the three accused in police custody till May 31 after accepting the prosecution’s arguments, seeking their custody for interrogation to ascertain if they misplaced or destroyed Tadvi’s purported suicide note.
The accused have been booked under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Anti-Ragging Act, the IT Act and section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
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