After reportedly being sexually assaulted by a sub-inspector and subjected to physical and psychological abuse by her landlord’s son for the previous four to five months, a 29-year-old physician who worked at a government hospital in the Satara district of Maharashtra committed suicide.
On Thursday night, October 23, the doctor was discovered hanging in a hotel room; her corpse was later retrieved.
When she was discovered dead, a Marathi-language letter on her palm that the media was able to see claimed that Gopal Badane, a sub-inspector at the Phaltan City police station, had raped her four times. Additionally, an investigating officer disclosed that the victim and the now-suspended sub-inspector were related and from Beed.
Additionally, the message claimed that she was subjected to ongoing physical and psychological abuse by a guy called Prashant Bankar.
The deceased was employed under contract as a medical professional at a government hospital in the Phaltan neighborhood of Satara. The victim’s corpse has been submitted for a post-mortem examination, and both of the suspects have been booked.
According to Satara Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi, a formal case has been filed against both of the accused on allegations of rape and aiding and abetting suicide, based on the doctor’s family’s complaint.
The victim was coerced into creating false medical records. A relative of the doctor claims that she was under pressure from the police and political officials because she had refused to provide “medically fit” certifications for several individuals who had been detained. Additionally, he said that she was under pressure to write “wrong” post-mortem reports. He said that they were also forcing his sister to write fit/unfit reports of the patients without actually taking them to the hospital.
He claims that she also identified three police officers, including the one who allegedly raped her, in a complaint she made against them earlier this year in June and July.
A Satara police officer refuted these claims, stating that she had complained about something at the time, but it was “related to a different thing.”
According to a top police officer who spoke to news agency PTI, the doctor had texted one of the suspects, Bankar, before reportedly taking his own life. The landlord of the doctor is the father of Bankar.
With the state’s opposition Congress attacking the governing Mahayuti administration and accusing it of “failing” to safeguard women, the issue has descended into a political maelstrom.
“Women have not been adequately protected by the Fadnavis-led government,” Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant said.
Sushma Andhare, the spokesperson for Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, insisted that an independent special investigating team (SIT) be established to look into the matter.
Nonetheless, Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra, ordered the police to prosecute the offenders severely.
