Aruna Shanbaug's colleagues, hospital staff welcome SC ruling

There was joy and elation among Aruna Shanbaug's former colleagues and nurses tending to her after the Supreme Court today dismissed a plea for mercy killing on behalf of the 60-year-old nurse, living in a vegetative state for the last 37 years in local KEM hospital after a brutal sexual assault.

"The Apex court verdict is very nice. We are all so happy," Shanbaug's former associate Pamela Kushe said, welcoming the SC ruling.

"We are also happy that the Apex court has recognised our efforts in taking care of Aruna all these years," Kushe, who first met Aruna when the latter was a student, said.

Nurses and their former colleagues at KEM have been looking after Aruna these 37 years, like a member of the family, nurse Bhanuprita said.

"As a result of the care taken by doctors and nursing staff, we feel she is stable now," she said.

"We consider it as a duty to look after her. The Court has recognised our efforts," she said.

"It was writer Pinki Virani who wanted Aruna to die, despite all our hospital staff taking utmost care of her," another nurse alleged.

Nurses distributed sweets at the hospital after the SC ruling.

The Apex court has said that as per the facts and circumstances of the case, medical evidence and other material suggest that Aruna need not be subjected to euthanasia.

Aruna slipped into coma after an attack on her at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital by a staffer on November 27, 1973.