The nurses cut a cake and celebrated the judgment, while the hospital dean Dr Sanjay Oak, who had opposed the petition since day one, welcomed the verdict and said Aruna would continue to be looked after by them.
“I am grateful to the court. We will continue our special care for Aruna. It is good that this topic will raise a debate on euthanasia,” Dr Oak, who is the seventh dean within KEM since Aruna has been there, said.
“It is a tradition that has been passed on to nurses, who take care of Aruna and they really take good care of her,” Oak said. “Aruna understands hunger and is happy when she is given some particular food. We have found from her gestures that she likes non-vegetarian food. All this I suppose speaks about the quality of care given to her in the hospital,” he added. What is important here is to note that Aruna is not on life support system. She is alive but is being force-fed.
Hospital staff said they felt happy taking care for Aruna and were thrilled by the verdict. Pramila Kushre, a nurse, told the mediapersons that she was “very happy to know that Aruna is going to live longer because I was very closely attached to her. She responds with a smile whenever one attends her.”
Jyotsna Pandit, president of the Maharashtra unit of Trained Nurses Association of India, stressed that TNAI will not accept euthanasia. “The nurses attending Aruna have taken good care of her and have become her relatives. They are committed to her care till her last breath,” she added.
While the authorities have shown social responsibility, her middle class family gave up on her after they realised that there is no recovery for her. And her fiancee, a doctor in the same hospital, also moved on in life, although for a long time he would come to the ward and sit at Aruna’s bed.
The rapist, who was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment, is however untraceable. Nobody knows where he is now, or even whether he is alive or dead.