Payal Tadvi case: All 3 doctors accused of abetting suicide arrested

In the case of Mumbai's Nair Hospital doctor Payal Tadavi's suicide, Agripada Police has arrested the three senior doctors accused of abetting her death.

Within a span of 12 hours, all three accused - Ankita Khandelwal, Bhakti Mehre, and Hema Ahuja were arrested by the Mumbai police, and are likely to be produced before the court today.

According to reports, the police arrested Dr Bhakti Mehre near the sessions court yesterday in the evening when she had tried to get inside hiding under a burkha.

Meanwhile, Dr Hema Ahuja was seized late yesterday evening near the Andheri railway station. Since a woman cannot be arrested after sunset and before sunrise under Section 46 (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the police sought permission from the Sewri Metropolitan Magistrate, which was granted, and the accused taken into custody.

The third accused, Dr Ankita Khandelwal, has also been arrested today morning. Further details are awaited.

On Tuesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had suspended licenses of the three doctors.

It has been alleged that for many months, these three senior female doctors were harassing Dr Payal Tadvi over her caste identity and tribal background. She was also teased regularly regarding the same on WhatsApp groups.

Weary of all the harassment, Dr Tadvi had committed suicide last Wednesday. Her death had triggered widespread protests among the medical fraternity against ragging normalised in medical institutions across the country.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken a suo moto cognisance of the matter and written to the hospital administration, requesting to appraise with the action taken in the case.

"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.

Dr Tadvi's family had accused the state-run BYL Nair hospital of indifference to her complaints, and kcalled her death an "instituional murder".

The accused are posited to be produced before the sessions court today at 11 AM.