Aruna Shanbaug: Brain-damaged India nurse dies 42 years after rape

Aruna Shanbaug, 67, suffered severe brain damage when she was sodomized and strangled with a metal chain by a hospital worker in 1973. The man, a ward attendant, left her to die in the hospital's basement, where she was found 11 hours later. She was 25 years old at the time.The Mumbai nurse
who was raped more than 40 years ago, and who had been in a coma ever since, has died. She was fed through the nose to keep her alive but developed pneumonia six days ago..

No one was charged with her rape. The man who was accused of the assault was charged with robbery. The cruel attacker was released after serving a 7-year jail term.

The country's Supreme Court in 2011 rejected a petition by author Pinki Virani to stop staff at the hospital where Shanbaug was cared for from force-feeding her. Virani also argued for legal euthanasia for Shanbaug. Her case sparked a debate about India's euthanasia laws.

Kavita Krishnan, a women's right activist said that the widespread attention generated by Shanbaug's case hasn't led to reduction in sexual violence against women in India.

Ms Virani told the BBC in 2013 that she had tried hard to track him down, but with no success.
"I was told that he had changed his name and was working as a ward boy in a Delhi hospital. The hospital where he had sodomised Aruna and left her in this permanent vegetative condition had never kept a photo of him on file. Neither did the court papers," she said.

To the attacker "I know you must have seen this news, that is if you are still alive( I certainly hope not).  You raped a woman, you rape a nurse, you rape an angel...how dare you!! how do you sleep at night? You definitely have a dead conscience. You might have gone free( 7 years is no punishment for what you did) but her creator will not let you go free. You snitched life out of an angel 42 years ago!"

The Indian government should do something about these rape cases. How can a woman not be safe in her home? Where is her right? Where is her safety?  No woman deserves to live in fear.