Cared for by KEM Hospital Mumbai for 42 years, Arun Shanbaug, who lay in a vegetative state after her brutal rape in 1973, has passed away. The 67-year-old breathed her last at 8:30 am in the morning.
On May 12 Shanbaug had contracted pneumonia and was put on ventilator support at the state-run hospital. A team of doctors had been working round-the-clock to help her wean off life-support systems.
In 1973, Shanbaug, who worked as a junior nurse at KEM, was raped by a ward boy, Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki on the night of November 27.
Aruna’s brother and sister (who died in 2013) abandoned her soon after the brutal rape in which she suffered grievous brain damage. Walmiki had tied a dog chain around her head and neck to pin her down, which led to her asphyxiation.
The nurses at KEM hospital took care of her all these years - changing her diapers, feeding her, and calming her when she would get restless.
In March 2011, Aruna’s pain echoed in the Supreme Court when a petition for mercy-killing was filed by Pinki Virani, journalist and author of a book on Shanbaug’s life.
The SC rejected the euthanasia plea, praising Pinki’s concern but ruling that her relationship with Aruna did not give her the right to appeal for mercy killing.
In November 2013, Aruna Shanbaug was rushed to the ICU for a similar lung infection. Her health improved and she was soon shifted back to her small room near Ward No 4, which has been her home for more than four decades.
For the past 42 years, Shanbaug had not walked nor uttered a word. She was mostly fed liquids.
We spoke to a former BMC cleaner who took care of Aruna for 25 years, Tidi Makwana, or ‘Champa Mausi’ as she is fondly called by the KEM staff. Makwana was once felicitated by the hospital for taking care of Aruna – but she returned the certificate, asking for a better bed for Aruna.
Wo meri beti jaisi hai, Aruna ko mein har mangalwar nehlati thi, powder lagati thi, bal katti thi, nakhun katti thi. Usko sab samajh mein aata tha. Jab khana accha nahi lagta tha toh bacche ki tarah thu-thu kar deti thi. Mutton khilaya, macchi khilaya, toh barabar khati thi. Toh mein yeh kehti thi, ki thek hai, tere ko who pasand hai, tu who kha.
– Champa Mausi
Aruna Shanbaug Case History
– Aruna was born in Haldipur, a village in Karnataka, and shifted to Mumbai when she got a job as a nurse at the state-run KEM hospital. In Mumbai, she stayed with her sister, Shanta Nayak in a chawl in Worli.
– On the night of November 27, 1973, Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki, a ward boy at the KEM hospital, attacked and sodomised Aruna in the hospital basement.
– The attack left her severely brain damaged and cortically blind, meaning she could see, but her brain could not register sights.
– The convicted ward boy was let off after 7 years of imprisonment, whereas Aruna remained in the twilight zone between life and death for 42 years.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)