Ex-HOD added as new accused for enabling ragging of Payal Tadvi

A sessions court on Friday ordered that Dr Ching Ling Chiang, the former Head of the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department at Topiwala National Medical College and BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, be added as an accused in the case linked to the suicide of 26-year-old Dr Payal Tadvi.

- Revu Suresh

MUMBAI: Dr Chiang is accused of enabling and encouraging the harassment that allegedly led to Tadvi's suicide in May 2019.

The special court, constituted under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, granted the prosecution's request to frame charges against Dr Chiang. Prosecutors argued that she failed to act on multiple complaints of harassment from Tadvi and her family, thereby allowing the abuse to continue unchecked.

In November last year, Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Gharat filed an application before the sessions court seeking to include Dr Chiang as an additional accused. The prosecution claimed that despite repeated complaints from Tadvi and her family, Dr Chiang dismissed their concerns, saying such incidents were common in medical colleges.