Payal Tadvi suicide case: Mother approaches Bombay HC against ‘illegal’ order removing SPP
Payal Tadvi had died by suicide allegedly due to alleged ragging and caste-based treatment.
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Payal Tadvi, a second-year gynaecology student at BYL Nair hospital, had died by suicide on May 22, 2019.Mother of Payal Tadvi, who died by suicide in 2019, allegedly due to harassment by her seniors, has approached the Bombay High Court against the notification that removed special public prosecutor (SPP) Pradip Gharat from the trial in the case.
Tadvi had died by suicide allegedly due to alleged ragging and caste-based treatment.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela K Gokhale on Wednesday asked the state lawyer to take instructions from officials and sought response to the plea by Abeda Salim Tadvi, challenging the March 7 notification of state law and judiciary department that removed Gharat as SPP with immediate effect and appointed another lawyer as the SPP.
The petitioner also sought direction to the government to reinstate Gharat as SPP.
Senior advocate Mihir Desai and advocate Lara Jesani for the petitioner sought direction to authorities not to act as per the impugned notification and pending hearing of the plea sought stay on its implementation and stay on proceedings in the case pending before the sessions court.
Tadvi stated that while she wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking cancellation of a notification, the same yielded no response, prompting her to approach HC.
The trial in the case against Payal’s three seniors, Bhakti Mehare, Ankita Khandelwal and Hema Ahuja, is yet to begin.
Gharat had moved an application before sessions court last month to add Dr Yi Ching Ling as accused, the then gynaecology department unit head at the TN Topiwala National Medical College and BYL Nair Hospital where Tadvi was studying in 2019.
Gharat had claimed Dr. Ling had overlooked the harassment and ragging complaint made by Tadvi, including on the basis of her caste, as she belonged to the Tadvi Bhil community, a Scheduled Tribe.
After the trial court on February 28 directed Ling to be added as an accused in the abetment of suicide case, she approached the HC seeking to set aside the trial court order, which is likely to be heard on March 28.
The plea by the mother stated that actions of the state Law and Judiciary Department along with the Home department to remove Gharat as SPP are “arbitrary and illegal,” and “will lead to delay in the trial and risk of losing crucial evidence on account of such protracted trial, which cannot be allowed.”
“This would lead to the entire process of securing justice ineffective and a mere formality,” it added. The plea further claimed that the actions by the government “indicate legal malice and amount to interference with smooth and proper administration of justice” and were in violation of the petitioner’s right of speedy and fair trial.
Moreover, the petitioner said the impugned notification violated provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, that provide substantive protection from discrimination and also against provisions of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), therefore the same cannot be sustained.
The HC will hear the mother’s plea next on April 2.
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