The Supreme Court on Monday (March 7) rejected the peition filed by author Pinki Virani for the mercy killing of a Mumbai nurse, Aruna Shanbaug. On March 2, a bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra had reserved the verdict after hearing submissions of Attorney General G E Vanhanvati and others.
Recently,the attorney-general of India urged the Supreme Court to permit Aruna Shanbaug, a Mumbai nurse who has been in a coma for over 38 years, to live in her present state and not stop food to end her life.Aruna, a former nurse, has been brain dead and paralysed for the last 36 years after she was raped in November 1973 in Bombay .Author and her well wisher Pinki Virani, had approached the Supreme Court of India seeking respite for her and has appealed that Aruna be allowed to die.In 2009, Pinki, who wrote a book on her, moved the top court seeking its permission to stop hospital authorities from force-feeding her food, water and medicines.
Aruna, a nurse in the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, was attacked by a sweeper who wrapped a dog chain around her neck and jerked the victim with it on November 27, 1973 after which he raped her.