STRUGGLE OF ARUNA SHANBAG
Today is the DEATH ANNIVERSARY of ARUNA SHANBAG.Does this name ring a bell? I don’t think most people from this generation have heard the name, but actually, with the demise of ARUNA SHANBAG on this day in 2015..,well & truly, an era had elapsed.
Whenever there is talk of EUTHANASIA, her name crops up but she was much more than this! The legendary figure, most of you must know, was sexually assaulted & tortured by a fellow ward boy at the KEM, HOSPITAL, MUMBAI, way back in 1973 where ARUNA was a staff nurse. She was strangulated by a dog chain leading to curtailed & delayed oxygen supply to brain resulting in coma but unfortunately coma was not the end but the beginning of a story of UNRELENTING STRUGGLE…..UNBRIDLED HOPE & UNTARNISHED HUMANITY. When her entire family abandoned her, the staff of KEM chipped in. They have been taking care of the unfortunate lady in vegetative state for 42 years in a room adjoining to ward no 4 of the prestigious hospital. Such was the AMAZING level of NURSING CARE that ARUNA has NEVER developed a BED SORE in such a protracted period!!…ARUNA was so tormented by the incident that she did not tolerate any MALE DOCTOR in her room. She was fond of LATA numbers & FISH, and just like a child, would spit out any food which was not to her liking. Plea for EUTHANASIA was registered in Courts many times, but all courts, including the SUPREME COURT, never bothered to end her insurmountable ORDEAL by allowing MERCY KILLING.
Infact,THE RAPIST was awarded a paltry punishment of only SEVEN years, salting the wounds of millions of observers if this case. Only Light at the end of the tunnel, was the redeeming fact that in the wake of this heinous crime, Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement allowed PASSIVE EUTHANSAIA in 2011 & Govt added a Clause in article 376 stating that if the Sexual Assault victim is rendered in VEGETATIVE STATE, the perpetuater of crime shall be awarded LIFE IMPRISONMENT (until death)!This was great victory of Justice. Well, these aspects are to be discussed later, but today We should get up in UNISON to PAY HOMAGE to a BRAVE LADY & More so, to the NURSING PROFESSION. So protective & Possessive were the SISTERS of KEM towards ARUNA, that they simply Refused to hand over her Body to her relatives who suddenly cropped up after her death to claim her body. ARUNA’s case is a living example that ALL is NOT lost for HUMANITY .HOPE is still in abundance.
Rest in Peace ARUNA.
Dr. Rajiv Ranjan Das
Doctor
Patna, India
