Akhilesh terms ST student’s suicide as murder of Constitution

Lucknow, May 28 (IANS) Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav has said that the death of Payal Salman Tadvi, a medical student in Mumbai, was actually "a murder of the constitutional protection given to the Scheduled Tribes".

Payal Tadvi belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community and was a victim of casteist slur.

Akhilesh Yadav tweeted that the "suicide of the brilliant Dr Payal Tadvi belonging to the Scheduled Tribal community is a result of comments against her caste and the reservation system.

"This is a case of murder. It is a murder of the protection given by the Constitution. Is this the direction the country is heading towards?"

Payal Tadvi, 23, was a postgraduate student at the Nair Hospital in Mumbai.

She allegedly committed suicide on May 22 following harassment at the hands of three senior doctors.

The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has issued a notice to Dean of the BYL Nair Hospital, seeking a report on the action taken in the case.

Her mother Abeda Tadvi had alleged that three senior doctors -- Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar, and Ankita Khandilwal -- persistently tortured her daughter, which resulted in her taking the extreme step.

"My daughter told me on phone several times that these three senior doctors would torture her because she belonged to a tribal community. They would use casteist words against her. All we want is justice for my daughter," she told a news agency.

The BYL Nair Hospital administration has now formed an anti-ragging committee to probe into the suicide.

The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has suspended the three doctors. The accused doctors, on Monday, wrote to the association urging to ensure 'fair' probe into the issue.