Payal Tadvi’s suicide note has come out in public and shed light on her thoughts prior to her death. The 26-year-old second-year post-graduate medical student attached to the B Y L Nair Hospital allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room on May 22. The forensic department recovered the suicide note by on July 6.
Payal Tadvi’s mentioned the name of the three accused, Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal, in her suicide note. The three doctors allegedly harassed and taunted her on her caste. While Payal expected the harassment to end but it continued to happen. She added that nobody had come forward in her support.
"I have taken this decision after trying out everything. I found out that no one is there to stand for us, support us in this department," the note said.
Payal said in the suicide note that the torture had continued to the level that she “could not bear”.
"I have lost my professional and personal life because it has been declared by them that they will not let me learn anything till they are here in Nair," the note said.
Payal also mentioned her friend Snehal in the suicide note. Snehal, who had allegedly been harassed by the accused as well, incidentally gave her statement to the crime branch. The Crime Branch filed an over 1,800-page charge sheet on July 23 against the three of Tadvi's seniors accused of abetting her suicide. The charge sheet relies heavily on the suicide note.
"I hold Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Meher and Ankita Khandelwal responsible for my condition and that of Snehal Shinde's (victim's colleague and friend)," Payal wrote in the note.
"I literally do not see any way. For the last one year we have been bearing them, hoping that one day this will end. But now I can only see the end... there is no way out of it," the note said.
Snehal’s statement to the crime branch has played a critical role in the case. She said the accused used to harass and ill-treat them in front of other juniors, hospital staff and patients.
"The trio (Ahuja, Meher and Khandelwal) used to call me dumb and Tadvi oversmart and used to make fun of us," Snehal said in her statement.
She added that, in May, Ahuja asked Tadvi and Snehal how much had they scored in the NEET and taunted them saying they got admission in medical course as they were from a reserved category.
While the police are yet to recover the hard copy of the suicide note, they recovered photographs of the purported note from Tadvi's mobile. The prosecution's case is that the three accused had destroyed the hard copy of the suicide note.
Tadvi's family had alleged that Ahuja, Meher and Khandelwal ragged her and hurled casteist slurs at her, forcing Tadvi to take the extreme step.
"I have taken this decision after trying out everything. I found out that no one is there to stand for us, support us in this department," Payal Tadvi’s suicide note said.
Snehal told police that, on May 22 evening, Ahuja told her that Tadvi had locked herself in her hostel room and was not opening the door.
When they broke the door open, they found Tadvi hanging from the ceiling, she said.
The trio has been booked under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 201 (destruction of evidence) and under the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities).
(With inputs from PTI)
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