![]() ![]() Debates around Indian law’s treatment of rape and euthanasia continue, even as the woman who sparked them is no more.īorn and brought up in Karnataka, Aruna migrated to Mumbai after completing her SSLC in search of a job owing to the poverty of her family. Aruna, who had been in a coma for more than four decades, succumbed to pneumonia. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.May 18th, 2015 came as a disappointment to the country when Aruna Shanbaug, the woman who led a life of pain and suffering, was declared dead. She divides her time between Dubai and India and blogs at (Copyright 2015 Asia Times Holdings Limited, a duly registered Hong Kong company. So it is unlikely he could be traced now and a case opened against him.Īmrita Mukherjee is a freelance journalist who writes on social issues in India with focus on women. There are no photographs of this criminal in police, court or hospital files since it’s been 35 years since his release. Ward boys in KEM told Pinki he had found a job in a Delhi hospital. He had probably changed his name after getting his release from the prison. Sohanlal was never tried for rape or sodomy. While Aruna Shanbaug gifted passive euthanasia to India, she is also the living example of how women continue to be the victims of a lopsided justice system in India. Maybe Pinki Virani was right in her own way, so were the nurses who developed an attachment to this long-suffering soul. We could not accept the idea of putting her to sleep.” “We have been looking after her like our own child. Since then, she has been looking after her along with the others. ![]() In an interview with the Indian newspaper The Hindu, Surinder Kaur, head nurse at the cardiac division at KEM, said that she joined the hospital in 1976 and became aware of Aruna Shanbaug’s situation. ![]() Through the 42 years of her hospital ordeal, the rape victim suffered excruciating pain. This is because the cells in the part of Aruna’s brain that feel pain were alive. Relatives of a PVS patient could approach the court to take a long-suffering patient off life support.Īs Aruna breathed her last and the nurses of KEM paid their last respects to her, Pinki Virani still believes that Aruna should have been allowed to die long before. The Supreme Court Judgment in 2011 refused to accept Pinki as “next friend” and instead said the nurses could be called Aruna’s “next friend” since they had an emotional bonding with her and took care of her.Īlthough Aruna was not allowed to die, the same court judgment made passive euthanasia legal in India. This petition was vehemently opposed by the nurses of KEM, who looked after Aruna. In 2009, Pinki Virani filed a petition as Aruna’s “next friend” to allow her to die in dignity. Journalist-author Pinki Virani, after writing the book on Aruna’s life, felt that Aruna should be allowed to end her life with dignity through euthanasia so that she did not have to continue a life of pain and indignity in her vegetative state. The tussle between the nurses and Pinki Virani So throughout, it has been the nurses who worked with her or, who came in years after the incident, who have taken care of this PVS patient. But one thing is for sure: It ensured the victim stayed in their care. But little is known about what came about from that strike. Aruna’s family stopped visiting her soon after the incident.Īfter the attack, Aruna’s colleagues, the nurses of KEM Hospital, went on a strike asking for better working conditions and better care for Aruna. ![]() Hence, Aruna didn’t stay on because of the hospital’s altruism or sense of responsibility. But the nurses opposed it - so Aruna stayed. Her family couldn’t look after her without financial assistance.Īlso, apparently the dean of the hospital did not report the rape because he was scared of the social stigma that she would have to live with because she was soon to be wed to a doctor working in the same hospital.īombay Municipality Corporation made two attempts to vacate Aruna’s bed in Ward No. Lack of compensation became one of the reasons why Aruna never went home. ![]()
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