It was in the month of November 1973  one sweeper named, Sohanlal Valmiki who was working in K.E.M Hospital of Bombay now renamed as Mumbai who was working in one of the wards as a Sweeper had deliberately used a dogs chain  around the  neck of one nurse  to throttle and kill her the nurse named Aruna Shanbaug was working in the same Hospital    , on that day of the crime she had politely asked Valmiki, the sweeper on duty in the above mentioned Hospital ward that she had kept some  of the food for the dogs which was found to be  stolen by him on her return from round from the hospitals ward, due to this  Valmiki got very angry with Aruna the nurse and used a dogs chain to throttle and kill her.

The dogs chain used by Valmiki throttled Aruna Shanbaug towards  the neck , this heinous offence had stopped further  supply of oxygen to her delicate brain tissues with the result she went under coma. Expert doctors advice and opinions were later on taken from all over the world   but Aruna could  not regain consciousness and  remained in such vegetative state for about 42 years until her death.

Those who saw her in this vegetative condition never hoped that Aruna could get well soon as her near and far off relatives also could not afford the ever increasing cost of medical expenses and  regular trips so  they also stopped to visit her regularly ,now it was only on some rare occasions they used to come and visit her at her room in K.E.M Hospital.

It was the  continuous dedication and continuous efforts of K.E.M Hospital nurses that Aruna could live long for about 42 years in such vegetative state after the incident. It is indeed surprising that Sohanlal Valmiki who had strangled her with a dogs chain got off with only 7 years in jail,  he was only charged with offences related to Robbery and Attempted Murder.  latest reports indicates that he is  still alive.

After the death of Aruna Shanbaug  a P.I.L  (Public Interest Litigation)  ,was filed in the Supreme Court for giving judgement as to  Active Euthanasia or Passive Euthanasia could be given to terminally ill Patients by the doctors wherein in such cases  the recovery is very less and the cost of treatment on medicines and other expenses  as well as doctors consultation fees on such terminally ill patients are day by day increasing without any signs of recovery.

Honorable Supreme Court had recently given a judgement  on 9th March 2018  which indicates that  a patient  can be granted permission to die with the doctors advice only by Passive Euthanasia as it was felt necessary by the legal fraternity  that the right to die with dignity was considered to be the  Fundamental Right of those patients who are terminally ill and even after very long years of  medical treatment  show no signs of any recovery. Honorable   Supreme Court was of the opinion that quality of life was of more importance than the long life span of any patient who have to suffer continuous extreme pain agony and suffering considering the case of Aruna Shanbaug the only on duty nurse who was in continuous pain and agony and was forced to live her life in that vegetative condition that too for more than 42  long years   till her death.

What s is the main difference between  Active euthanasia and passive euthanasia ?.

In Active euthanasia something is done by the doctors to end the patients life, whereas in Passive Euthanasia something is not done to save the patients life which actually means that life support system is withdrawn and the patient dies a natural death.

Women in India are even today raped, killed ,tortured, maimed, crippled, stalked or harassed to a great extent even today itself, the accused persons manage to get themselves released out of jails on bail as there are more loopholes & lacuna’s in the laws.

In many cases eye witnesses are threatened to give their statements in the court in  favor of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and offences .Now after   few years have passed by these   accused  go scotfree as the case is either weak or it can be one of the reasons that  due to lack of sufficient evidences, or  witnesses turning hostile they become victorious .It is ultimately the women who have to suffer throughout their lives with humiliation and sufferings from the elderly village women who try to humiliate  and laugh at her wherever she goes.

Although  more than seven decades have passed since our country, India  had achieved Independence from the Britishers but it is a blot on our Indian society that  there is no end to such occurrences of   heinous offences against women and young girls . Women feel humiliated as other older and young  women from neighboring villages  pass extremely bad remarks on the victim frequently, make her character assassination that is the main reason why rape victims are forced to commit suicide later on in their lives .

Most of the villagers feel that such offence was done with woman’s consent  thus the rape victims had deliberately  betrayed  and not followed her family and village traditions ,I feel that those who try to  humiliate such women victims can also be arrested in such cases of death for Abatement in commission of suicides of women in our rural Indian villages then only the condition of women would be better.

Parents and Relatives also normally force their women and young girls not to  file any F.I.R with the Police as this would bring bad name to their family furthermore also it is feared that  in villages and rural areas they would be treated as outcast’s and in future she and her family  members would be treated very badly by those villagers, also they would always face criticism that these  woman and girls had brought bad name to their village and family, thus in most of the cases the old men and women advise  young girls and women to keep silent until they  are married off  and sent to another far off city  where the victims can start their new life forgetting the previous bad trauma which they had overcome in the past days of her life.

Women in India may be trained in self defense subjects in schools and colleges like Judo,Karate, Krav Maga, Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu ,Kalaripayattu ,Lat hi and sword fighting, Gatka (Punjabi Martial Art), they may only be permitted to work  from morning 6/00 hrs to evening 5/00 hrs in factories , they may frequently be asked to travel in groups of 5 to 10 women, keep dairy of Emergency phone nos of the nearest Police Stations,  further more when  they are leaving for their homes and  travelling in any mode of transport they should also note the vehicles nos ,in order to make women safer more and more  Women drivers my be granted  Driving permits to drive Ola or Uber or other passengers  vehicles as this move by the Indian Government could provide more safety to women commuters and in the long run provide more employment to poor widowed or divorced women in India ,as they could be self sufficient and also self reliant to rear their little children .

Lastly I conclude that women may be permitted to keep a small 6 inches knife in their ladies purses,along with pepper spray or Red chilies box  now if there is any threat to their lives these women could be sufficiently armed with  latest techniques to protect themselves when they are alone.