Aruna Shanbaug, a Mumbai nurse who was in a coma for 42
years after being sexually assaulted while working in a hospital has died.
Aruna suffered severe brain damage and was in a vegetative state after she was
raped and strangled by a hospital worker in 1973.
She was diagnosed with pneumonia last week and had been on a
life support system for the past few days, according to reports. Shanbaug's
case sparked a debate over India's euthanasia laws after a Mumbai-based author
and friend of the nurse petitioned the courts to stop force-feeding her through
a tube so her suffering would not be prolonged. Continue..
India's Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by Pinki Virani
who had sought euthanasia for Shanbaug, saying the court should 'end her
unbearable agony.' The case was opposed by nurses at the hospital who took
turns taking care of her for more than four decades after Shanbaug's family
said they were unable to support her.
Virani told the BBC:
'My broken, battered baby bird finally flew away. And she
gave India a passive euthanasia law before doing so.'
Aruna, a native of Haldipur in Karnataka, had joined KEM
Hospital as a junior nurse in the seventies.
On the night of November 27, 1973, sweeper Sohanlal Bhartha
Walmiki attacked her when she had gone to change in the vacant canine
experiment room of the hospital. To overpower Aruna, Walmiki used a dog chain
to choke and sexually assault her. The choking permanently damaged her brain
cells, leaving her in vegetative state and partially blind.
DailyMail adds that culprit Walmiki was booked for robbery
and attempt to murder, as the doctors then did not think it appropriate to
include sexual assault charges to save Aruna from facing social stigma.
Walmiki was convicted, and after serving his sentence, he is
said to have moved to Delhi.
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