Cong slams BJP over woman doctor's suicide in Maharashtra; seeks judicial probe

New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) Attacking the BJP over the alleged suicide of a woman government doctor in Maharashtra's Satara district, the Congress on Thursday claimed that law and order in Maharashtra has collapsed and demanded an SIT as well as a judicial inquiry into the case.

The opposition party also demanded that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should apologize for giving a "clean chit" to the accused without any investigation.

The doctor, hailing from Beed district in the Marathwada region of central Maharashtra and posted at a government hospital in Satara district, was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan town on the night of October 23.

In the suicide note written on her palm, she alleged that police sub-inspector Gopal Badane raped her on multiple occasions, while software engineer Prashant Bankar mentally harassed her.

Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad said the BJP-RSS' mentality towards the deprived and women of the country is known, as she demanded justice for the deceased doctor.

What happened shows that law and order in Maharashtra has collapsed, she said at a press conference here along with Maharashtra Congress general secretary Atul Londhe Patil.

"Crimes against women are at their peak, and where protectors themselves become predators, one can imagine the state of affairs," Gaikwad said.

The doctor was fighting against political pressure and the failure of the system, she said.

"In the end, whose was this political pressure? This pressure was from BJP's former MP Ranjit Naik Nimbalkar, sugar mill officials, and their associates," she alleged.

In this case, the police itself had become the cause of harassment, Gaikwad said.

She accused Fadnavis of giving a clean chit to the accused in the case.

Posing questions, Gaikwad asked how did Fadnavis give a clean chit to the accused without any investigation and whom is he trying to protect in this matter.

"Why didn't the police take this case seriously in the first place? Why hasn't the State Women's Commission met with the victim's family? Why has the State Women's Commission ultimately stood as a shield for those in power?" Gaikwad asked.

"The Congress wants that the truth in this case must come out. An SIT and judicial inquiry should be formed to investigate this case. The accused named in the suicide note should be arrested immediately. A Women Doctors' Safety Act should be enacted," she said.

In his remarks, Londhe said Fadnavis has no right to remain Maharashtra's Home Minister and Chief Minister.

"This is not the first time; in Kathua and Hathras too, BJP people were protecting the criminals, but this country will be run by the Constitution, and we will not allow any attack on it," Londhe said.

A departmental inquiry should be conducted against the police personnel on whom questions have been raised in this case, he said.

Londhe said that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has spoken with the victim's family and assured them that they will get justice.

"If this government does not take strict action in this matter, we will protest," he said.

The 28-year-old doctor was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan town of Satara district on the night of October 23. The postmortem mentioned the cause as asphyxia due to hanging, indicating that the doctor died by suicide.

The victim's relatives have demanded that an SIT be constituted, alleging that crucial data was deleted from her mobile phone after her death.

The doctor's uncle claimed that her phone was accessed using her fingerprint after she died, leading to the erasing of "vital information related to the incident".

Residents of Wadwani in Beed observed a bandh on Tuesday, demanding an SIT probe into the alleged suicide of the doctor who hailed from the region. PTI ASK ASK KVK KVK