The Life and Times of Aruna Shanbaug

Aruna Shanbaug is in news ever so often these days. I have been following her case closely over the last few years. However, the recent ruling refusing to let her end her life has brought Aruna back to the limelight again. Interestingly though Aruna is likely to be not even aware of the effect she has had and how her plight may have paved the way for a landmark judgement.

On 27^th of November 1973, Aruna Shanbuag was sexually assaulted which has left her in a vegetative state for the last 37 years. Aruna’s friend, author and journalist Pinki Virani, filed a plea for euthanasia which was examined and turned down by the Supreme Court of India on the 7^th of March 2011, claiming that she was not Aruna’s family and that the hospital staff were the only people who could decide what Aruna would want on her behalf. Although justice was denied to Aruna it paved the way for the Supreme Court to permit passive euthanasia in certain cases.

Some Thoughts In Defence of Arundhati Roy

Author Arundhati Roy has been making Indian headlines – and causing mild hysteria – in the last few days after comments she made about the disputed region of Kashmir.

I say author, because that was the first context within which I encountered her, reading the brilliant The God of Small Things for my degree, before moving on to her other non-fiction activism works. I’ve been lucky enough to hear her speak, and am consistently struck by her eloquence in articulating potent and persuasive arguments about power relations between a state and its people, with other states, and the ideology insidious to both.

Babri Mazjid Verdict: More than just a political game?

So the much-awaited verdict on the Babri Mazjid demolition case was finally passed on the 30^th October by the Allahabad High Court. The disputed land was divided into 3 parts. One part was given to the Hindus for building a Rama temple, the second part was given to the Muslims for building a mosque and the third part was given to the nirmohi akharas.

There’s much history and baggage that precedes this verdict; almost sixteen years of fighting a battle hoping to get a fair deal out of the case. In my opinion that’s exactly what the court provided when deciding the verdict.

Before I go into what the larger repercussions of this verdict are, it’s important to understand the history behind the Babri Mazjid, its demolition, and the ensuing battle over the disputed land.