The special court allows the application Add a defendant in Dr. Payal Tadvi’s suicide caseThe state government has removed him from office, brought by Special Prosecutor Pradip Gharat.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has issued a notice stating that Galat’s appointment has been cancelled immediately. The March 7 notice did not give any reason for the decision. It noted that a new Special Attorney, Mahesh Mule, has been appointed.
On February 28, the Special Court Hearing Education Case for Suicide Cases allowed the application filed by Gharat as the alleged head of the Department of Gynecological Sciences, Dr. Yi Ching Ling, held at TN Topiwala National Medical College and TNAIR Hospital in TADVI in 2019 at Topiwala National Medical College and Byl Nair Hospital.
“I was not told to cancel my appointment. I was first a court official and I have filed an application to add the defendant based on evidence accepted by the court,” Galat said.
On May 22, 2019, Tadvi died of suicide in her hotel room. The police arrested three of her seniors, Dr Bhakti Mehare, Dr Ankita Khandelwal and Dr Hema Ahuja on possessions that they had harassed Tadvi, including on the basis of her caste, as she belonged to the Tadvi Bhil community, a Scheduled Tribe, and based on a suicide note left by Tadvi naming the three.
The case is currently in the stage of allegations against the three, and they are currently on bail.
Galath made an application under section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code (power to other persons who appear to have committed crimes). It said there was a superficial case against the professor because she was “deaf” to complain about Tadvi’s harassment from three seniors.
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On February 28, Special Judge SM Tapkire allowed the defense.
“Dr. Yi Ling Chun Chiang is accused of trial with the defendant,” the court said.
Tadvi’s husband Salman said the state’s decision to cancel Gharat’s appointment is unacceptable.
“This is unacceptable. The case has been postponed and at a critical stage of the allegation framework, appointments cannot be cancelled in this way. The families of the victims can choose who the prosecutor can be, according to the scheduled caste and the scheduled tribe (prevention of atrocities), and the family of the victims can choose who the prosecutor can be. We are not even informed of this decision. We hope Mr. Galat will return to the special prosecutor,” Salman said.
