Aruna Shanbaug case

Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug was born on 1 June 1948 to a Konkani Brahmin family in Haldipur, Uttar Kannada, Karnataka.{{cite news | title=KEM nurses, dean celebrate Aruna Shanbaug's birthday | newspaper=Hindustan Times | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/kem-nurses-dean-celebrate-aruna-shanbaug-s-birthday-/article1-704677.aspx | date=2 June 2011 | access-date=18 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518185728/http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/kem-nurses-dean-celebrate-aruna-shanbaug-s-birthday-/article1-704677.aspx | archive-date=18 May 2015 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}{{cite news| title=KEM Hospital celebrates Aruna Shanbaug's 64th birthday| newspaper=The Times of India| url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/KEM-Hospital-celebrates-Aruna-Shanbaugs-64th-birthday/articleshow/13712413.cms| date=2 June 2012| access-date=18 May 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110140848/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/KEM-Hospital-celebrates-Aruna-Shanbaugs-64th-birthday/articleshow/13712413.cms| archive-date=10 January 2017| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}{{cite news | title=KEM celebrates Aruna Shanbaug's 65th birthday | newspaper=DNA India | url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-kem-celebrates-aruna-shanbaugs-65th-birthday-1842559 | date=2 June 2013 | access-date=18 May 2015 | archive-date=21 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921214905/https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-kem-celebrates-aruna-shanbaugs-65th-birthday-1842559 | url-status=live }} She worked as a nurse at the King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEM) in Mumbai. At the time of the attack, she was engaged to a doctor employed at the same hospital.{{cite news |title=Rebirth for Aruna, say joyous Mumbai hospital staff |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/143798/rebirth-aruna-say-joyous-mumbai.html |newspaper=Deccan Herald |date=7 March 2011 |access-date=11 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628191521/http://www.deccanherald.com/content/143798/rebirth-aruna-say-joyous-mumbai.html |archive-date=28 June 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

On 27 November 1973, Shanbaug, then 25 years old, was sexually assaulted by Sohanlal Bhartha Valmiki (Dalit) , a male sweeper on contract at King Edward Memorial Hospital. The attack occurred while she was changing clothes in the hospital basement. Valmiki choked her with a dog chain and raped her. This cut off oxygen to her brain, resulting in a brain stem contusion, cervical cord injury, and cortical blindness. She was discovered at 7:45 am the following morning by a cleaner.{{Cite web|url = http://onelawstreet.com/2011/03/aruna-ramchandra-shanbaug-v-union-of-india-2011-4-scc-454-ethanasia-case/|title = Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union Of India [2011 (4) SCC 454] (Euthanasia case)|date = 7 March 2011|access-date = 18 May 2015|website = 1, Law Street|publisher = Supreme Court of India|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150519121131/http://onelawstreet.com/2011/03/aruna-ramchandra-shanbaug-v-union-of-india-2011-4-scc-454-ethanasia-case/|archive-date = 19 May 2015|url-status = dead|df = dmy-all}}

Sohanlal Bhartha Valmiki was caught and convicted of assault and robbery, and he served two concurrent seven-year sentences, being released in 1980. He was not convicted of rape, sexual molestation, or unnatural sexual offense, the last of which could have been punished with life imprisonment.{{cite web |title=Indian Penal Code Section 377 |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1836974/ |website=Indian Kanoon |access-date=28 May 2020 |archive-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608122529/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1836974/ |url-status=live }}

Journalist and human rights activist Pinki Virani attempted to track down Valmiki; she believed that Valmiki changed his name after leaving prison but continued to work in a Delhi hospital, and since neither the King Edward Memorial Hospital nor the court that tried Valmiki kept a file photo of him, Virani's search failed. Other reports claimed he had subsequently died of AIDS or tuberculosis.{{cite news |author=Chatterjee, Pritha |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/kem-nurse-aruna-shanbaugs-assailant-is-alive-tired-of-memories-i-want-to-die/99/ |title=Aruna Shanbaug's assailant is alive. I want to seek forgiveness from her and God, he says |newspaper=Indian Express |date=29 May 2015 |access-date=29 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530093751/http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/kem-nurse-aruna-shanbaugs-assailant-is-alive-tired-of-memories-i-want-to-die/99/ |archive-date=30 May 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

Shortly after Shanbaug's death was announced, however, Valmiki was tracked down by Mumbai-based journalist Dnyanesh Chavan from the Marathi daily Sakal to his father-in-law's village of Parpa in western Uttar Pradesh. He was found to be still living, married with a family, and working as a labourer and cleaner in a power station. After his release from prison, he returned to his ancestral village of Dadupur in western Uttar Pradesh before moving to Parpa in the late 1980s.

When interviewed, Valmiki described his version of the assault, claiming it had been committed in a "fit of rage" and that he had no clear recollection of when it had taken place or what he may have done, though he denied raping her and said that it "must have been someone else". Valmiki, then a hospital janitor, had a difficult relationship with Shanbaug, his superior. He says that "there was an argument and a physical fight" when Shanbaug refused to give him leave to visit his ill mother-in-law and said that she would report him for poor work.

Since then, he was fired from his job, and his sons disowned their father after learning the truth.{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sohanlal-loses-job-but-village-calls-off-ouster-move/articleshow/47520610.cms |title=Sohanlal loses job but village calls off ouster move|newspaper=Times of India|date=3 June 2015 }}

Following the attack, nurses in Mumbai went on strike demanding improved conditions for Shanbaug and better working conditions for themselves. In the 1980s, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC) made two attempts to move Shanbaug outside the KEM Hospital to free the bed she had been occupying for seven years. KEM nurses launched a protest, and the BMC abandoned the plan.

{{See also|Euthanasia in India}}

Shanbaug remained in a vegetative state from 1973 until her death in 2015.

On 17 December 2010, the Supreme Court, while admitting the plea to end the life made by activist-journalist Pinki Virani, sought a report on Shanbaug's medical condition from the hospital in Mumbai and the government of Maharashtra.{{cite news |title=India court admits plea to end life of rape victim |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8417549.stm |publisher=BBC News, Delhi |date=17 December 2009 |access-date=11 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313173950/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8417549.stm |archive-date=13 March 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}{{cite news |title=Judges consider comatose rape victim's right to die |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6960935.ece |newspaper=The Times |date=18 December 2009 |access-date=11 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135828/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6960935.ece |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} On 24 January 2011, a three-member medical panel was established under the Supreme Court's directive.{{cite news|title=Team to look into Euthanasia plea|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-25/mumbai/28378869_1_euthanasia-plea-hospital-bed-condition|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105005312/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-25/mumbai/28378869_1_euthanasia-plea-hospital-bed-condition|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-11-05|newspaper=The Times of India|date=2011-01-25}} After examining Shanbaug, the panel concluded that she met "most of the criteria of being in a permanent vegetative state".{{cite news|title='Aruna Shanbaug's brain shrivelled after 1973 sexual assault'|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-28/india/28641570_1_aruna-ramachandra-shanbaug-human-brain-pinki-virani|date=28 Feb 2011|access-date=11 March 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701145609/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-28/india/28641570_1_aruna-ramachandra-shanbaug-human-brain-pinki-virani|archive-date=1 July 2012|url-status=dead|newspaper=The Times of India|df=dmy-all}}

On 7 March 2011, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement, issued a set of broad guidelines legalizing passive euthanasia in India.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12662124|title=India court rejects Aruna Shanbaug euthanasia plea|journal=BBC News|date=7 March 2011|access-date=8 March 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110307152311/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12662124| archive-date= 7 March 2011 | url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-india-euthanasia-20110308,0,1497102.story|title=India's Supreme Court lays out euthanasia guidelines|newspaper=LA Times|date=8 March 2011|access-date=8 March 2011}} These guidelines for passive euthanasia—i.e. the decision to withdraw treatment, nutrition, or water—establish that the decision to discontinue life support must be taken by parents, spouse, or other close relatives, or in the absence of them, by a "next friend". The decision also requires court approval.

In its judgement, the court declined to recognize Virani as the "next friend" of Aruna Shanbaug, and instead treated the KEM hospital staff as the "next friend."

{{blockquote|We do not mean to decry or disparage what Ms. Pinki Virani has done. Rather, we wish to express our appreciation of the splendid social spirit she has shown. We have seen on the internet that she has been espousing many social causes, and we hold her in high esteem. All that we wish to say is that however much her interest in Aruna Shanbaug may be it cannot match the involvement of the KEM hospital staff who have been taking care of Aruna day and night for 38 years.{{cite web|url= http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/wr1152009.pdf|title= Supreme Court decision on Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug versus Union of India|access-date= 11 September 2016|publisher= Supreme Court of India|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170110142938/http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/wr1152009.pdf|archive-date= 10 January 2017|url-status=dead|df= dmy-all}}{{rp|127–128}}

}}

Since the KEM Hospital staff wished that Aruna Shanbaug be allowed to live, Virani's petition to withdraw life support was declined. However, the court further stipulated that the KEM hospital staff, with the approval of the Bombay High Court, had the option of withdrawing life support if they changed their mind:

However, assuming that the KEM hospital staff at some future time changes its mind, in our opinion in such a situation the KEM hospital would have to apply to the Bombay High Court for approval of the decision to withdraw life support.{{rp|128}}

On 25 February 2014, while hearing a PIL filed by NGO Common Cause, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India said that the prior opinion in the Aruna Shanbaug case was based on a wrong interpretation of the Constitution Bench's opinion in Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab. The court also determined that the opinion was internally inconsistent because although it held that euthanasia can be allowed only by an act of the legislature, it then proceeded to judicially establish euthanasia guidelines. The court referred the issue to a larger Constitution Bench for resolution, writing:

In view of the inconsistent opinions rendered in Aruna Shanbaug (supra) and also considering the important question of law involved which needs to be reflected in the light of social, legal, medical and constitutional perspective, it becomes extremely important to have a clear enunciation of law. Thus, in our cogent opinion, the question of law involved requires careful consideration by a Constitution Bench of this Court for the benefit of humanity as a whole.{{Cite web|url = http://onelawstreet.com/2014/02/common-cause-a-regd-society-v-union-of-india-2014-5-scc-338-euthanasia-reference-to-constitution-bench/|title = Common Cause (A Regd. Society) v. Union of India – (2014) 5 SCC 338 [Euthanasia reference to Constitution Bench]|date = 24 February 2014|access-date = 18 May 2015|website = 1, Law Street|publisher = Supreme Court of India|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150519074047/http://onelawstreet.com/2014/02/common-cause-a-regd-society-v-union-of-india-2014-5-scc-338-euthanasia-reference-to-constitution-bench/|archive-date = 19 May 2015|url-status=live|df = dmy-all}}

Following the Supreme Court decision rejecting the plea, the nursing staff at the hospital—who had opposed the petition and had been looking after Shanbaug since she had lapsed into a vegetative state—distributed sweets and cut a cake to celebrate what they termed her "rebirth". A senior nurse at the hospital later said, "We have to tend to her just like a small child at home. She only keeps aging like any of us, does not create any problems for us. We take turns looking after her and we love to care for her. How can anybody think of taking her life?"

Pinki Virani's lawyer, Shubhangi Tulli, decided not to file an appeal, saying "the two-judge ruling was final till the SC decided to constitute a larger bench to re-examine the issue." Pinki Virani said, "Because of this woman who has never received justice, no other person in a similar position will have to suffer for more than three and a half decades."{{cite news |title=Because of Aruna, no one else will have to suffer |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Thanks-to-Aruna-others-won-t-suffer-Pinki-Virani/Article1-670476.aspx |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=7 March 2011 |access-date=11 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310060344/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Thanks-to-Aruna-others-won-t-suffer-Pinki-Virani/Article1-670476.aspx |archive-date=10 March 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

A few days before her death, Shanbaug was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was moved to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) of the hospital and put on a ventilator. She died the morning of 18 May 2015. Her funeral was performed by the hospital nurses and other staff members.{{cite news|title=Funeral of Aruna Shanbaug performed at KEM Hospital in Mumbai|url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2015/05/last-rites-of-aruna-shanbaug-performed-at-kem-hospital-in-mumbai/|access-date=18 May 2015|publisher=news.biharprabha.com|date=18 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521030937/http://news.biharprabha.com/2015/05/last-rites-of-aruna-shanbaug-performed-at-kem-hospital-in-mumbai/|archive-date=21 May 2015|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

A non-fiction book about the case titled Aruna's Story was written by Pinki Virani in 1998. Duttakumar Desai wrote the Marathi play Katha Arunachi from 1994–1995; it was performed at college level and subsequently staged by Vinay Apte in 2002.{{cite news |title=Aruna's story is now a play at Sahitya Sangh |url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=13717 |newspaper=Indian Express |date=3 April 2002 }}{{dead link|date=February 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

A Gujarati fiction novel, Jad Chetan, was written by popular novelist Harkisan Mehta in 1985 and was based on Shanbaug's case.{{Cite web|last=Pioneer|first=The|title=Shanbaug's death evokes sympathy|url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2015/india/shanbaugs-death-evokes-sympathy.html|access-date=2020-06-15|website=The Pioneer|language=en|archive-date=15 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615015852/https://www.dailypioneer.com/2015/india/shanbaugs-death-evokes-sympathy.html|url-status=live}}

Anumol played Shanbaug in the 2014 Malayalam film Maram Peyyumbol.{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-13/news-and-interviews/37059300_1_aruna-shanbaug-pinki-virani-passive-euthanasia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234757/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-13/news-and-interviews/37059300_1_aruna-shanbaug-pinki-virani-passive-euthanasia |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-12-02 |newspaper=The Times of India |title=Now, a film on rape victim Aruna Shanbaug's life |access-date=2013-05-27}}{{cite web |author=deepu says |url=http://www.dcbooks.com/gauthami-nair-as-aruna-shanbaug-in-maram-peyyumpol.html |title=Gauthami Nair as Aruna Shanbaug in maram peyyumpol |publisher=Dcbooks.com |access-date=2013-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063919/http://www.dcbooks.com/gauthami-nair-as-aruna-shanbaug-in-maram-peyyumpol.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

A part of the plot of the marathi film Janiva mentions about the case, and the subsequent impact.

Shanbaug's story was also portrayed in the series Crime Patrol.

In June 2020, the Ullu web series KASAK, which is based on the case, was released. The role of Sheetal, Shanbaug's stand-in, is portrayed by Ihana Dhillon.

• Aruna's Story: the true account of a rape and its aftermath, by Pinki Virani. Viking, 1998 {{ISBN|0140277625}}
• Arunachi Goshta (Aruna's story) {{in lang|mr}}, by Pinki Virani, 1998, Translator: Meena Karnik. Mehta Publishing House. 1998 {{ISBN|81-8498-142-2}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170110142938/http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/wr1152009.pdf Court ruling, Aruna Shanbaug vs. Union of India, 7 March 2011] at Supreme Court of India
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100311011759/http://www.blogher.com/rape-has-left-people-wishing-her-dead-ii-interview-writer-pinki-virani Pinki Virani's Interview - 13 June 2008]
• {{cite news |title=India court admits plea to end life of rape victim|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8417549.stm |publisher=BBC News, Delhi |date=17 December 2009 }}
• {{cite news |title=Aruna Shanbaug case: Supreme Court rejects euthanasia plea|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/aruna-shanbaug-case-supreme-court-rejects-euthanasia-plea-89894 |publisher=NDTV |date=7 March 2011}}

{{Medical ethics cases}}

{{Rape in India}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanbaug, Aruna}}

Category:1973 crimes in India

Category:2011 in case law

Category:2011 in India

Category:2015 deaths

Category:Crime in Mumbai

Category:Health law in India

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Category:Medical controversies in India

Category:Rape in India

Category:Violence against women in India

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in India

Category:Incidents of violence against women