Accused doctors in Payal Tadvi suicide case move Bombay High Court seeking bail

Source: barandbench.com

After a special court rejected their bail application last month, the three women doctors arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of Dr. Payal Tadvi have moved the Bombay High Court seeking bail.

Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal, who were the seniors of Payal Tadvi, have challenged the special court order rejecting their bail application.

The matter was mentioned before the Single Judge Bench of Justice Sadhana S Jadhav today. The matter will be heard on July 4.

While refusing to grant them bail, the special court of Additional Sessions judge PB Jadhav had said that there was a likelihood of the accused doctors trying to abscond or tamper with the evidence.

On May 22, Dr. Payal Tadvi, postgraduate student at TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room.

Her family had accused three of her seniors of harassment and caste discrimination.

The accused have been booked under Sections 34 and 306 of of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 of Information Technology Act, Section 3 of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as well as the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act.

The special court on June 10 had extended judicial custody of the accused doctors till June 21. On June 24, after hearing the arguments of the accused, the prosecution, and the informant mother of Dr. Tadvi, the court had rejected the bail application and extended their judicial custody to July 6.

The matter had come before the Bombay High Court last month. The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police had approached the Bombay High Court claiming that it did not get the opportunity to conduct its own probe in the case. In this light, it filed an application before the High Court seeking custody of the three seniors. The Court had granted partial custody of the three accused to the Crime Branch.