Brutal Sexual Assault, Years Of Suffering, A Landmark Verdict: Aruna Shanbaug, The 'Sleeping Warrior'

Sodomised, strangled with a dog chain, and lying in a vegetative state for 42 years — the case of Aruna Shanbaug sparked a debate on euthanasia in India.

"Marte hain aarzoo mein marne ki, Maut aati hai par nahin aati" 

The Supreme Court had to rely on Mirza Ghalib to capture the inextricable dichotomy that Aruna Shanbaug and those around her had to battle for over four decades. Sodomised and strangled with a metal dog chain at the age of 25 on November 27, 1973, in Mumbai's King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, Aruna led the rest of her life in a vegetative state until her death due to pneumonia in 2015. Her life and the plea for her mercy killing or euthanasia set off the debate on the issue with the Supreme Court permitting passive euthanasia in certain situations.

What Happened To Aruna Shanbaug?

On the evening of November 27, 1973, Aruna Shanbaug was sexually assaulted by a sweeper (Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki) in the hospital. Upon finding that Shanbaug was menstruating at that time, he sodomised her and wrapped a metal chain around her neck to immobilise her. The next day, a cleaner found her lying on the floor in an unconscious condition, with blood all over. It is said that the strangulation by the dog chain cut the oxygen supply to her brain — crippling her for life.

However, Aruna's accused Walmiki was just awarded a seven-year imprisonment on charges of robbery and attempted murder, but not rape. At that time, the law in the country did not recognise sodomy as rape. And the irony was it was Aruna who ended up serving the 'life sentence' on the hospital bed for 42 years. It was also reported that the hospital withheld the nature of the assault during the investigation of the case.

There Was No Rape, Said Convict Walmiki

After serving his seven-year sentence in Pune's Yerawada jail, Walmiki disappeared from the public eye until a local newspaper traced him in 2015.

Speaking to The Indian Express, he denied the charge of rape and said he did not remember anything about the rape. He said there was a scuffle and he stole a few ornaments during it. The report stated he was reluctant to open up about the incident but said, "Everything happened in a fit of rage. There was a fight, it was dark, and I panicked. We both hit each other, I may have pulled the ornaments they said I stole during the scuffle. There was no rape… they beat me up in the police station and kept saying it was rape. I did not rape her, it must have been someone else,” he claimed.

Walmiki alleged that Aruna always picked on him, and described his troubled relationship with her. “Aruna didiji was always picking on me. She knew I was scared of dogs… there were other sweepers, but she picked me each time the dogs had to be fed or their cages swept. I told the doctor in charge and my supervisor to transfer me, I complained about her but no one listened. Who listens to a jamadar (sweeper)?” he said.

The Night That 'Destroyed Everything'

Describing what happened on the night of the incident in 1973, Walmiki told IE: "That night I had gone to ask Aruna didiji for leave for a few days. My wife’s mother, who then lived in the house where I now live, was very ill. My wife wanted to visit her but Aruna didiji refused. She said if I took leave, she would complain about me in writing, saying I did no work, that I stole dog food, and still wanted leave.”

He added: “I had not done any such thing. I was scared of dogs, so how could I steal their food?… I had seen Aruna didiji playing cards with ward boys and other nurses during duty hours. When she threatened to complain and not give me leave, I told her I would tell her supervisor about her. After that, there was an argument and a physical fight. I don’t know what I did in rage.” 

But Walmiki said he repented his 'mistake', gave up on all bad habits and sought her forgiveness. "I gave up non-vegetarian food, bad habits like smoking bidis and drinking. I had a daughter before I was sentenced, and she died while I was in jail. She died because I made a mistake. For many years after my release, I didn’t touch my wife. A son was born 14 years after I left jail.”
"Mujhe bahut pachchtava hai. Main unse aur apne bhagwan se maafi maangna chahata hun," he said.

Petition Filed For Mercy Killing

In 2011, during the hearing of a plea filed by journalist and author Pinki Virani, seeking permission for mercy killing, the court read out Aruna's state of living only on mashed food which was fed to her, the brittle bones that were prone to breaking at any time, her twisted wrists, decayed teeth, and her skin which was like "papier mache stretched over a skeleton". The petition said 

Shaunbag was "virtually a dead person and has no state of awareness, and her brain is virtually dead". It added: "Aruna cannot be said to be a living person and it is only on account of mashed food which is put into her mouth that there is a facade of life which is totally devoid of any human element."
The petitioner alleged that there was not the slightest possibility of any improvement in her condition, and that she had been lying on the bed of KEM Hospital like a dead animal for 36 years. The plea sought permission to let her "die peacefully".

Court Denied Plea But Paved Way

Even though the plea was dismissed, the court did a deep dive into Aruna's case. It appointed a team of three doctors to submit a report on Aruna's physical and mental condition in which she was found to be in a "state of intact consciousness without awareness of self/environment". "No cognitive or communication abilities could be discerned. Visual function if present is severely limited. Motor function is grossly impaired with quadriparesis," the report noted.

However, the court declared that Aruna was clearly not brain dead or in a coma and said she was in a vegetative state with a "complete absence of behavioural evidence for self or environmental awareness". "There is preserved capacity for spontaneous or stimulus-induced arousal, evidenced by sleep-wake cycles. .i.e. patients are awake, but have no awareness," it said.

The court also said: "The decision to discontinue life support either by the parents or the spouse or other close relatives or in the absence of any of them, such a decision can be taken even by a person or a body of persons acting as a next friend. It can also be taken by the doctors attending the patient and added that in the case of Shanbaug, her parents were dead and other close relatives were not interested."

Paving the way for passive euthanasia, the court said, "There is no statutory provision in our country as to the legal procedure for withdrawing life support to a person in PVS or who is otherwise incompetent to take a decision in this connection. We agree with Mr. Andhyarujina that passive euthanasia should be permitted in our country in certain situations, and we disagree with the learned Attorney General that it should never be permitted. Hence, following the technique used in Vishakha's case (supra), we are laying down the law in this connection which will continue to be the law until Parliament makes a law on the subject."

In Aruna's case, the court said, it was the KEM hospital staff "who have been amazingly caring for her day and night for so many long years, who really are her next friends, and not Pinky Virani who has only visited her on few occasions and written a book on her". "Hence, it was for the KEM hospital staff to take that decision. 

The KEM hospital staff have clearly expressed their wish that Aruna Shanbaug should be allowed to live."

The decision of the court was welcomed by the KEM nurses who had looked after her all these years.

Asserting the hospital's commitment and emotional bonding with Aruna, then Dean Dr. Sanjay Oak had stated that such was the level of care towards her that she did not have a single bedsore in all the years.

"She means a lot to KEM Hospital. She is on liquid diet and loves listening to music. We have never subjected her to intravenous food or fed her via a tube. All these years, she hasn't had even one bedsore," Oak had said.

In 2018, the Supreme Court formally upheld the ruling on passive euthanasia after it paved the way for its legalisation in the 2011 ruling in the Aruna Shanbaug case. Pinki Virani, who filed the plea for Aruna's mercy killing in 2011, in an interview to the FirstPost hailed the verdict as she said: "Never forget Aruna Shanbaug; it’s all made possible because of her."

Aruna died on May 18, 2015, after being in a vegetative state for nearly 42 years.