<p>A 10-minute CD was played in the courtroom before the Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra to present before them Aruna’s plight. <br /><br />The recording showed Aruna writhing in excruciating pain on a bed of KEM hospital where she worked as nurse till November 27, 1973, when she was chained like a dog and sodomised by a ward boy.<br /><br />The ward boy was said to have been harbouring anger against Aruna over her persistent scolds. <br /><br />It was a moving 10-minute in the packed courtroom. The CD showed that Aruna was conscious and moving her twisted wrists, albeit making sounds of pain. <br /><br />Devotional songs<br /><br />The audio-visual play vividly put forth that she was not in a comatose state and is spoon-fed mashed food. Devotional songs by Sadguru Wamanrao Pai is played in the background. <br /><br />But not everyone in the courtroom agreed with the description that Aruna was in a vegetative state. Therefore, notwithstanding what the CD might have intended to portray, there was strong disapproval of the mercy killing plea. <br />The opposition to the mercy killing plea came from none other than Dr Sanjay Narhari Oak, KEM hospital director. <br /><br />Oak made a written submission before the Bench, contending that Aruna’s shouts and shrieks have nothing to do with presence of other persons in her hospital room.<br />“It is not true that she shouts after seeing a man. I do not think Aruna can distinguish between a man and a woman,” he said. She likes listening to songs by Sadguru and grimaces if the tape records were switched off, he said. <br /><br />The doctor said that the victim liked having non-vegetarian food. <br />“It appears that she relishes fish and occasionally smiles when she is given non-vegetarian food. Since September last, after she developed malaria and her oral intake began to drop, Aruna is being fed through a tube.<br /><br /> “All these years she was never fed by tube and whenever a nurse used to take food to her lips, she used to swallow it. However, if small morsels are held near her lips, Aruna accepts them gladly,” he said.<br /><br />Dr Oak vehemently opposed the idea of withdrawing food or putting her to sleep by active medication (mercy killing). <br /><br />“Not once in this long sojourn of 37 years, anybody (at the hospital) has thought of putting an end to her so-called vegetative existence,” he said. <br /><br />He went on: “Aruna has probably crossed 60 years of life and would one day meet her natural end,” he said.</p>
<p>A 10-minute CD was played in the courtroom before the Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra to present before them Aruna’s plight. <br /><br />The recording showed Aruna writhing in excruciating pain on a bed of KEM hospital where she worked as nurse till November 27, 1973, when she was chained like a dog and sodomised by a ward boy.<br /><br />The ward boy was said to have been harbouring anger against Aruna over her persistent scolds. <br /><br />It was a moving 10-minute in the packed courtroom. The CD showed that Aruna was conscious and moving her twisted wrists, albeit making sounds of pain. <br /><br />Devotional songs<br /><br />The audio-visual play vividly put forth that she was not in a comatose state and is spoon-fed mashed food. Devotional songs by Sadguru Wamanrao Pai is played in the background. <br /><br />But not everyone in the courtroom agreed with the description that Aruna was in a vegetative state. Therefore, notwithstanding what the CD might have intended to portray, there was strong disapproval of the mercy killing plea. <br />The opposition to the mercy killing plea came from none other than Dr Sanjay Narhari Oak, KEM hospital director. <br /><br />Oak made a written submission before the Bench, contending that Aruna’s shouts and shrieks have nothing to do with presence of other persons in her hospital room.<br />“It is not true that she shouts after seeing a man. I do not think Aruna can distinguish between a man and a woman,” he said. She likes listening to songs by Sadguru and grimaces if the tape records were switched off, he said. <br /><br />The doctor said that the victim liked having non-vegetarian food. <br />“It appears that she relishes fish and occasionally smiles when she is given non-vegetarian food. Since September last, after she developed malaria and her oral intake began to drop, Aruna is being fed through a tube.<br /><br /> “All these years she was never fed by tube and whenever a nurse used to take food to her lips, she used to swallow it. However, if small morsels are held near her lips, Aruna accepts them gladly,” he said.<br /><br />Dr Oak vehemently opposed the idea of withdrawing food or putting her to sleep by active medication (mercy killing). <br /><br />“Not once in this long sojourn of 37 years, anybody (at the hospital) has thought of putting an end to her so-called vegetative existence,” he said. <br /><br />He went on: “Aruna has probably crossed 60 years of life and would one day meet her natural end,” he said.</p>
