Aruna Shanbaug: Brain-Damaged India Nurse Dies 42 Years After Rape
Although the Supreme Court rejected Ms Virani’s plea, the case resulted in India easing some restrictions on euthanasia after the court’s landmark ruling that life support could be legally removed for some terminally ill patients in exceptional circumstances, providing the request was from family and supervised by doctors and the courts.
Doctors say patients in a vegetative state are awake, not in a coma, but have no awareness because of severe brain damage.
Lawyer Shekhar Nafade, who represented Ms Virani in the Supreme Court, told the BBC that he felt “relieved for Aruna”.
Ms Shanbaug’s attacker, Sohanlal Bharta Walmiki, was not even charged for raping her since sodomy was not considered rape under Indian laws at the time.
More: Aruna Shanbaug: Brain-Damaged India Nurse Dies 42 Years After Rape - BBC News