In Kolkata Horror Case, Chief Justice Cites Aruna Shanbaug. Her Story

Aruna Shanbaug was a nurse at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital when on the night of November 27, 1973, she was brutally attacked by a ward attendant who sexually assaulted her and then strangled her with a dog chain.

While hearing the recent Kolkata rape-murder case today, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud made a reference to the 1973 Aruna Shanbaug incident. CJI Chandrachud said due to ingrained patriarchal biases, women doctors are targeted more and as more women join the workforce, the nation cannot wait for another rape for things to change on the ground, highlighting the Aruna Shanbaug case in particular as an example of violence against women in the medical profession. 

Aruna was a 25-year-old nurse at KEM Hospital, the medical institution she had joined in 1967 in the surgery department. She was engaged to Dr Sundeep Sardesai  - a doctor at the same hospital - and was due to be married in early 1974. However, on the night of November 27, 1973,  she was brutally attacked by a ward attendant, Sohanlal Bharta Walmiki, who sexually assaulted her and then strangled her with a dog chain. The assault left Aruna with severe brain damage, plunging her into a persistent vegetative state (PVS) where she remained for 42 years until her death in 2015.

The damage to her brain stem left her paralysed, unable to speak, and reliant on others for the most basic needs. For over four decades, she was kept alive through force-feeding by the devoted staff at KEM Hospital, who cared for her like family. Aruna became the centre of a national debate when journalist Pinki Virani filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2011, seeking permission for her euthanasia.