Click to play videoMumbai: The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its verdict in Nurse Aruna Shanbaug's mercy killing petition on Monday. She has been living in a vegetative state for the last 30 years after a brutal sexual assault.
Tidi Makhwana, a former employee of KEM Hospital, said, "I stayed with her for many years. She should not die as she is not creating any problems for anyone."
For 25 years, 58-year-old Tidi Makhwana took care of Aruna Shanbaug at the KEM hospital. She retired six months ago. 'Champa Mausi' as she was fondly called, was once felicitated for taking care of Aruna, but she returned the certificate and instead, asked for a better bed for Aruna.
"I have always seen Aruna as my daughter," says Tidi.
Aruna Shanbaug was working as a nurse at Mumbai's KEM Hospital when on the night of November 27, 1973, Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki, a ward boy at the hospital, attacked and sodomised her in the hospital basement. The attack left her cortically blind, that means she can see, but her brain does not register the sight. The convicted ward boy was let off after seven years of imprisonment.
Aruna remains in the twilight zone between life and death since 37 years. Her friend and lawyer Pinki Virani appealed for euthanasia, but doctors at KEM don't agree, they say she responds through facial expressions …
Former Dean, KEM Hospital Dr Pragna Pai says that Aruna is not in coma. "I used to go and talk to her and when you tell some story, she would start laughing or smiling or when you start singing some prayers or shlokhas, she would look very quite and peaceful, as if she is also joining the prayers," said Dr Pai.
Aruna's case is the focal point on the debate over euthanasia in India. On the one side, it is the right to live , and the other, death with dignity and the Supreme Court has the unprecedented and difficult task of deciding on the fate of a victim in a crime committed 37 years ago.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
