R.I.P Aruna Shanbaugh! Hope you finally find peace

Last week, one of the most discussed names in media over four decades, Aruna Shanbaug; a nurse from Mumbai's K.E.M hospital, passed away after suffering for forty two years of unending pain. 

Most of us are familiar with her name that jumped in every time topic of euthanasia was brought up in media.  A victim of rape and inhuman violence, Aruna Shanbaug suffered painfully silent helplessness for forty two years, in vegetative state, condemned to hell on hospital bed, the same hospital she was working with before she was subjected to gruesome attack!

 Aruna's culprit, who attacked and raped her, was convicted and served two concurrent seven-year sentences for assault and robbery, but not for sodomy! All these years in our collective conscience Aruna has been face of euthanasia and we had almost forgotten the brutality she was subjected to, as if it was just incidental crime without much significance. In today's times it is difficult to comprehend such lapse, isn't it? 

 Aruna Shanbaug's case raises many disturbing questions.

 A victim of horrific violence who ends up in vegetative state for life while the person involved in the crime walks away after few years of punishment. Why? Because, he was never charged for sodomy! 

 Much beyond legal and moral dilemma, there is a question one can't stop asking, why can't we allow euthanasia that is case sensitive instead of banning it or letting it remain an ambiguous concept and letting the patients suffer for ages? 

 It is said that Aruna had nine siblings but not a single family member came forward to take responsibility as it was financially impossible for any of them to take care of her in such condition. Where is the state accountability and concern for victims like Aruna? Why in a country like ours where billions of rupees are spent mindlessly on religious activities, not a single community, group or religious institution came forward to help Aruna?

 The nurses at K.E.M hospital have done commending job by taking great care of Aruna for more than four decades and we all know what an arduous task it might have been for them! But, was it really all Aruna needed? Was she even aware of what happened to her post her traumatic confinement to the hospital bed?   

While Aruna Shanbaug was alive, she was the reason for many a debates that helped bring law on passive euthanasia. Now she is gone, we will still continue to argue and debate euthanasia and our collective conscience will be silenced by tokenism. 

Aruna's life is lost because she was subjected to inhuman crime and suffered for decades.

In the hospital bed she laid almost dead, alone because her immediate family could not afford to look after her.

 The staff of K.E.M that took care of her did exemplary work. Was it enough? Could there have been other better options for treatment and care?

The country where she was born had insufficient law to guard and protect her and punish the guilty for all the crimes committed.

This is Aruna Shanbaugh's real tragedy beyond the horrendous crime she was subjected to.

We might write her obituaries in flowery language but the fact is, Aruna is no more and her culprit is roaming free without having been punished for the actual crimes he committed. And we have to live with that harsh reality but it doesn't bother us really, does it? 

 R.I.P Aruna Shanbaugh!  Hope you finally find peace. God bless!