Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug

by Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy



(1 June, 1948 – 18 May, 2015) Dehumanized, sodomized and strangulated with a dog chain, By her tormentor Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki with utter disdain, Aruna Shanbaug lay senseless in an agonizing wait, For four long decades in coma and a vegetative state, To be released at last from a “life” of untold misery and pain. Her upcoming junior nurse’s career was nipped in the bud, As Walmiki left Aruna cortically blind in a pool of blood. And while this inhuman culprit was on the run, Nurses and doctors of KEM Hospital rose as one, For forty-two long years to tend to Aruna reduced to a dud. Because sodomy then was not considered an act of rape, With a seven-year sentence could her tormentor escape. While Aruna’s pictures have been splashed all over, Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki’s have been under cover. For him the jail sentence perhaps was just a mere scrape. Aruna’s horrible condition and vegetative state, Led to a heated and all round Euthanasia debate. But how come no concerns or doubts, Were raised on Walmiki’s whereabouts? Can the Aruna..s be safe, only with the prefix “Late”? Cortical blindness is the total or partial loss of vision in a normal-appearing eye caused by damage to the brain's Occipital Cortex

Image © Padmaja Iyengar

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Comments on this Poem

Dear Kulbir Thanks. Sadly, there is no justice in India...

Padmaja Iyengar
21-May-2015 14:10 PM

Padmaja,

What a shocking story! Where is justice in India?

Kulbir
21-May-2015 13:24 PM