Aruna Shanbaug, who became the face of a debate on euthanasia after being in a vegetative state for more than four decades following her brutal rape in 1973, died in Mumbai’s KEM Hospital on Monday after a bout of pneumonia.
According to the Hindustan Times,Shanbaug was a staff nurse at the KEM Hospital when she was attacked by sweeper Sohanlal Bharta Valmiki on the evening of November 27,1973. To immobilise her, he wrapped a dog chain around Shanbaug’s neck and yanked her back with it. Valmiki tried to rape her but sodomised her after finding that she was menstruating.