Aruna Shanbaug's case is renowned for it's debate on euthanasia. A brief look at what has happened in the last 38 years of Aruna's life.

1. Aruna Shanbaug- The Case That
Has Aroused Pity In Every Heart
- Apoorva Kinger

2. Aruna Shanbaug- Who is she?
• Aruna Shanbaug, a young, beautiful, high-spirited, strong-
willed girl who hailed from a small village called Haldipur (in
southern state of Karnataka)
• Just like those thousands, she reached Bombay (now
Mumbai) with dreams in her eyes, she left her home at a
tender age of 18.
• Her goals were set, she knew what she wanted in her life.

3. The career she sort
• Aruna completed a nursing course in Bombay on her own
without anybody’s support.
• She landed herself a job as a junior nurse in the famous King
Edward Memorial Hospital.
• She was a strict disciplinarian, authoritative, highly
responsible and efficient, amongst the best nurses of the
hospital.
• She had a promising carrier ahead and was loved and liked by
all.

4. Her love life
• While working as a nurse in King Edward Memorial
Hospital, Aruna fell in love with Dr. Sundeep Sardesai.
• Both of them admitted the love to each other and soon got
engaged.
• They had even fixed a date for their marriage.
• That’s when everything seemed very perfect for Aruna.

5. The merciless fate
• On 27th November, 1973, a girl who carved her own
destiny, had fallen prey to a merciless fate.
• Aruna Shanbaug was sexually assaulted by Sohanlal Bhartha
Walmiki, a sweeper on contract at the King Edward Memorial
Hospital.
• Walmiki was motivated partly by resentment for being
ordered about and castigated by Aruna.
• He attacked her while she was changing clothes in the
hospital basement.

6. • Walmiki choked her with a dog chain and paralyzed her.
• The asphyxiation cut off oxygen supply to her brain, resulting
in brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury apart
from leaving her cortically blind.
• But she did not die in fact she suffered bravely (and is still
suffering) but the damage is irreversible both physically and
mentally.
• Sohanlal did not only snatch her dignity but snatched her
whole life, she is bed-ridden, completely dependent on the
nurses of the hospital in which she once served other
patients.

7. The aftermath
• Following the attack, nurses in Mumbai went on strike
demanding improved conditions for Aruna and better
working conditions for themselves.
• They even succeeded as a police case was registered as a
case of robbery and attempted murder.
• To avoid the social rejection of the victim, and her impending
marriage, the original crime of anal rape was concealed by
the doctors under the instructions of the Dean of KEM, Dr.
Deshpande, perhaps

8. From beauty to pity

9. The judgment that didn’t do any
justice
• Walmiki was caught and convicted, and served two
concurrent seven-year sentences for assault and robbery but
not for rape or sexual molestation (which could have got him
a ten-year sentence by itself).
• Sohanlal got released after 7 years of imprisonment but
Aruna still traumatised

10. PVS, how bad is that?
• Aruna is in Permanent Vegetative State (PVS).
• Her pain is incurable and condition irreversible. She is locked
up in her own body to wait for a slow, painful death.
• Unfortunately, Aruna’s family abandoned her after the
hospital started insisting that they should take her home.
• For Aruna her home became the same hospital where she
used to serve whole heartedly.
• She occupies the same room outside ward 4 of the hospital
since 38years.

11. Mercy killing to lessen suffering?
• In 2010, Pinki Virani, Aruna’s friend and activist-journalist
filed a petition for euthanasia for Aruna Shanbaug.
• The Supreme Court praised Ms Virani’s concern, but ruled
that her relationship with the patient does not give her right
to petition on Ms Shanbaug’s behalf for a mercy killing.
• The only party that can appeal for euthanasia for Ms.
Shanbaug was the staff of KEM Hospital which has nursed
her since 38 years.
• Aruna‘s case is a landmark, while rejecting Virani’s plea for
Aruna Shanbaug’s euthanasia, the court laid out guidelines
for passive euthanasia.
• Virani didn’t have anymore to say than a sheer grief over her
friend’s pathetic state.

12. All we can do is pray
• To live or not to live, it is a decision which can only be taken
by the person who is concerned.
• In Aruna’s case, she is not able to tell her decision, so this
becomes all the more difficult.
• Whether to relieve Aruna from her present state or to give
her a right to live till she dies a natural death – its a tough call.
• Prayer is the only hope for her.

13. • Read detailed report on Aruna Shanbaug- The Case That Has
Aroused Pity In Every Heart on http://bit.ly/LDLwg2