Yesterday’s Times of India front-page report on the plight of 61-year old Shanbaug had sent droves of readers commenting on the story online.
Shanbaug was a nurse at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and has been lying in a vegetative state on the bed of the same hospital since 1973 after suffering a brutal sexual assault by a ward boy.
Activist and author Pinki Virani had moved the petition as Shanbaug’s “next friend” and urged the court to direct hospital authorities to stop feeding her paralysed body.
Despite viewing it akin to mercy killing, the Supreme Court of India has now relented in favour of the argument presented by the petitioners counsel Shekhar Naphade who said: “Is not keeping the woman in this persistent vegetative state by force feeding violative of her right to live with dignity guaranteed by Article 21 (Right to life) of the Constitution?”
Naphade also highlighted her inhumane and torturous existence in the KEM Hospital and requested the authorities and court to step in and lay guidelines, as her condition is pronounced beyond cure by the doctors.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice of India, K G Balakrishnan, Justices A K Ganguly and B S Chauhan has agreed to examine the issue by seeking response from the center and state Governments, the dean of KEM hospital and the Commissioner of Mumbai Police.
The Supreme Court until now maintains a pro-life stance and had earlier declined pleas of termination of pregnancy of a mentally disabled girl resulting from a rape at a Nari Niketan in Chandigarh as well as a similar plea of a Mumbai couple for termination of a diseased foetus, reported the Times of India.
Comments
like keeping him starving in the jail and he should be fed in between and he should be tortured and again he should be given a good food and similar torture should continue for some years and he should be thrown into the place where vultures are there from where he should not be able to come out. We should not waste our nation's wealth by keeping him in jail and waste our precious time
Over and above it is very surprising that the man who raped is alive and still serving in Delhi and that also in a Hospital. He should not be given any job and still he has to be punished like the woman is suffering in the hospital till date. He should be again arrested and severely punished.Whoever gives him job should also be punished and his total family should be boycotted.
But I am crying to the justice,which cannot hear this..pity country like India where people are scotfree after doing all crimes
But now today also If at all I get a chance to meet the man who raped and all the rapists, I willbe happy to punish him my way.