For a woman who has survived several hardships in her life, Shanta Nayak is clear that she does not want to see her younger sister Aruna Shanbaug anymore.
For a woman who has survived several hardships in her life, Shanta Nayak is clear that she does not want to see her younger sister Aruna Shanbaug anymore.
“I took care of her for 30 years after the incident. Not anymore. I told my brother that. He said it’s all right since the nurses are taking good care of her,” said Nayak, 75.
Nayak’s legs are failing her and she has great trouble walking. She lives in a one-room tenement at Lower Parel with her divorced daughter.
“Even if someone offers to take me to her, I don’t want to see her. Maala traas hoto (It hurts me),” said Nayak. KEM Hospital staffers say that no one from Aruna’s family has come to see her for years. Only after the incident, they claim, they came to see her.
On November 27, 1973, Aruna was brutally sexually assaulted by a ward boy and that left her bed-ridden for life. This Monday, the Supreme Court turned down the euthanasia (mercy killing) plea made by writer Pinki Virani on behalf of Aruna.
Nayak said that she had heard the news about the apex court judgment but had not followed it closely. In fact, when KEM Hospital sent her a court notice, she sent it back saying that it was not addressed to her (there was a typo in the name).
“I knew it was for me and I knew it was about Aruna. I do not want to have anything to do with her now. I can barely walk myself,” said Nayak.
When Shanbaug was shifted to Sarvodaya Hospital from KEM a few years after the incident, the hospital did not have any clothes for her. “I refused to give them any clothes. Why should I give any clothes for her. Let the hospital take care of her,” she said. When KEM had asked Nayak to take care of Shanbaug, she had allegedly demanded a room, a doctor and a nurse.
When asked about Shanbaug before the incident, she said, “I got married and left home when Aruna was just one-year old. She would come home sometimes when she lived in the hostel. She started living with us just one month before the incident took place to save money for her wedding. “She would just leave home for work and come home late,” she said.
Nayak used to work as a milk supplier in the area. Earlier, she lived with her second daughter in Andheri but moved back to her Lower Parel residence to make sure the tenement is in her name. A builder wanted to develop the plot.
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