Mumbai: The special court hearing the bail pleas of the three accused in the Dr Payal Tadvi suicide case on Wednesday said proceedings will not be video recorded in the absence of necessary facilities.
The court had ordered video recording of the bail proceedings earlier under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
But the prosecution submitted that police were unable to make necessary arrangements, and sought some time.
Defence lawyer Abad Ponda pointed out that as per the law, recording was required only during the main trial.
Advocate Gunratan Sadavarte, appearing for the victim's family, claimed that the state government and the police were "not serious" when it came to atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Judge P B Jadhav noted in his order that though the SC/ST Act was amended and video recording of all the proceedings was made mandatory two years ago, infrastructure was yet to be made available.
It was the state government's responsibility, he said.
The court had directed the police to make the arrangements but "police machinery has its own difficulties", Jadhav said.
"Bail proceedings are required to be decided expeditiously. Therefore this court has no option but to proceed without video recording," he said.
The bail pleas will be heard on Friday.
Tadvi, 26, a second-year postgraduate medical student attached to BYL Nair Hospital, allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room on May 22.
Her family alleged that three of her seniors — Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Meher and Ankita Khandelwal —ragged her and hurled casteist abuses at her, forcing Tadvi to take her life.
All three were arrested and are in judicial custody.
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