The Supreme Court has admitted a petition for the mercy killing of a woman who suffered a brutal assault 36 years ago and has been lying in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital ever since.
Admitting a petition filed on behalf of Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug by journalist Pinki Irani, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices A K Ganguly and B S Chauhan, has ordered notice to the Centre, the Maharashtra Government and a private hospital where she has been vegetating ever since she was assaulted in 1973.
Aruna, who was working as a staff nurse in Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital, was assaulted by a sweeper and strangled with a dog chain, thus cutting off oxygen supply to her brain, after she threatened to expose him in a theft case. While the sweeper got away with a sentence of six years in jail, with the rape charge held to be not proved, the nurse has been vegetating ever since.
Doctors at the hospital are keeping her alive by feeding her with mashed food.
According to the petition, Aruna's brain cells have been permanently damaged, bones have become brittle, wrists have twisted inwards with fingers bent at the joints and fisted into palms and teeth have decayed.
Pinki Virani, who first broke the news and then wrote a book" Aruna's story", has filed the petition. Aruna's lawyer Shekhar Naphade has told the court that since Aruna cannot live a life of dignity, she should be allowed to die in dignity.
Aruna was hardly 24 when the incident happened. It is not clear whether any relative of hers had taken care of her at any time and why she was allowed to vegetate for so many years by the hospital when the normal practice is to discharge the terminally ill patients beyond recovery so that others needing critical care but with chances of survival can be attended to.
Indian law does not allow euthanasia. And there is no report from doctors that she is brain dead, though crippled in so many ways. Any attempt to let her die by depriving her of food will, therefore, amount to a crime.
The nurses of the hospital have looked after her for 36 long years and the hospital administration has not objected to her presence in the ward.
The case throws up medical, moral and ethical questions besides the legal issue. By admitting the petition for hearing, the court has shown that the issue is open to debate.
- Asian Tribune -
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