Mercy killing: SC turns down Aruna's death wish

The 60-year-old nurse is living in a persistent vegetative state for the last 37 years in a Mumbai hospital after a brutal sexual assault.

In a vegetative state, a patient remains awake but not conscious of his surroundings.

Mercy death plea for Aruna
Moved by Aruna’s pain and agony, her friend and social activist Pinki Virani petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a hastened death for the woman, who she says is "virtually a dead person."

Virani, who has written a book about Aruna, had petitioned the court for permission for euthanasia since she is in a vegetative state for the last more than three decades.

Plea rejected
On Monday, a bench of justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra pronounced the keenly-awaited verdict, rejecting the petition for the mercy killing of the terminally ill nurse.

In its ruling, the apex court said that while active euthanasia (mercy killing) was illegal as there is no statutory provision to support it, yet “passive euthanasia” can be permissible in exceptional circumstances.

Justice Katju said that active euthanasia is illegal in India as there is no statutory provision presently in the country to support it.

"Passive euthanasia is permissible under certain conditions with the approval of the high court," says the ruling.

Active or Passive euthanasia
The bench that watched a ten-minute CD showing Aruna shrieking, shouting, and writhing in excruciating pain insisted that until Parliament enacts a law, its judgment on active and passive euthanasia will be in force.

Active euthanasia is a state where a patient is given a lethal injection to put him to deathbed, while passive euthanasia involves withdrawing the artificial life support, such as breathing or feeding tubes, from a patient.

Virani has no right to decide Aruna’s fate
The court said though Virani is performing a laudable social service, the staff, doctors and nurses of KEM hospital, who have been taking “dedicated care” of Aruna for the past 37 years, have a greater right over her and only they can decide whether to opt for passive euthanasia or not.

“She (Virani) cannot claim to be as close and attached to Aruna Shanbaug as King Edward Memorial Hospital staff and nurses,” the bench ruled.

Raped and assault by staffer
Ms Shanbaug was raped by a hospital sweeper at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital, the very hospital where she worked, on 27 November 1973. The sweeper wrapped a dog chain around her neck and yanked the victim with it. The attacker chained her like a dog and then had brutal anal sex with her.

That attack left Aruna in a broken, vegetative state. She is terminally ill and confined to bed in King Edward medical college in Mumbai since the brutal attack.

In her book, petitioner Virani described Aruna’s condition saying that due to strangulation by the chain, the supply of oxygen to the brain stopped and the cortex got damaged. According to her, Aruna’s bones are brittle, her wrists are twisted inward, teeth decayed and she can only be given mashed food on which she survives.

Her attacker, Sohanlal Walmiki, a ward boy at the hospital, was sentenced to seven years in prison for committing the heinous offence.