The post-mortem report of resident doctor Payal Tadvi, who was found dead in her hostel room at BYL Nair hospital on 23rd May, has revealed evidence of a ligature mark on her neck, reports ANI. The post-mortem report states ”evidence of ligature mark over neck.” The case has been transferred to Mumbai crime branch. 

Nitin Satpute, the lawyer representing Payal Tadvi’s family alleges that the death of Payal could be a murder case. “From the circumstances of her death and bruise mark on her body, we can say that it must be a case of murder and not of suicide. Police must investigate this case in the lines of a murder investigation. Police should be given 14 days time for that,” said the lawyer.

However, Sandip Bali, the counsel of the accused Bhakti Mehre, has requested the court to wait until the complete medical report is made available, before treating the death as a murder case.

Currently, all the three accused – Dr Hema Ahuja, Dr Bhakti Mehare, and Dr Ankita Khandelwal – are in Police custody. All the accused in the case belong to upper caste.

Chat reveals bullying & harassment over months

The transcript of chat between Payal and one of her friends accessed by Mumbai Mirror has revealed that she was continuously bullied for seven months and she was planning to leave her study as the harassment was getting unbearable.

Salman Tadvi, the husband of the victim, alleged that she was ragged and humiliated on WhatsApp because she belonged to a Scheduled Tribe. “She was picked on for being lower caste and was ragged quite a bit by her seniors. The seniors said they will not let her study. They used to humiliate her on WhatsApp too,” Salman told NDTV.

The anti-ragging committee formed to look into the suicide case of the 23-year-old doctor found evidence that indicated Payal was subjected to casteist slurs.

However, the doctors accused in the suicide case said that it was an excessive workload that led to Payal’s suicide and not their behaviour. “If the heavy workload is given the name of ragging, then we all have been ragged or ragging someone while performing our basic duties, then all of us should be blamed as all the workload and pressure is always transferred from our seniors and Department,” said the accused in a letter to MARD.

Following the anti-ragging committee report, a five-member committee of senior professors was constituted to look into the report.

Also Read: Mumbai: Doctors Accused Of Harassing Junior Doctor & Driving Her To Commit Suicide, Arrested