Activist-author Pinki Virani, the author of several seminal works relating to women's empowerment in India, is now fighting for the right to die of 61-year old rape victim, Aruna Shanbaug [pictured]. Acting as a next friend, Virani has filed a petition in the Supreme Court for permission to remove the comatose rape victim from life support.

In 1973, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, a nurse, was brutally raped by a sweeper in Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital, where she was working. She has been in a coma ever since, and has been surviving on life support systems for the last 36 years.

The petition explains that Shanbaug has been kept in this persistent vegetative state by the hospital authorities by feeding her mashed food, which she can hardly digest. "She cannot speak, hear or see, there is no element of human life in her body," avers the petition.

The special bench comprising Chief Justice Balakrishnan, A.K. Ganguly and B.S. Chauhan observed that the "law of the country does not permit a person to die."  Senior Counsel Shekhar Naphade, representing Shanbaug through Virani, responded, "Is not keeping the woman in this persistent vegetative state by force-feeding, violative of her right to live with dignity, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution?'' 

The courts in India have consistently held that the "right to die" is different from the "right to life" enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. However, despite its hesitance in taking up the petition, the Bench admitted the matter and issued notice to the Union of India and the state government to file their replies.