2011-03-07 16:04

NEW DELHI- In a unique case of its kind, India's highest judiciary Monday rejected a plea for "mercy killing" of a comatosed woman patient lying paralyzed for 37 years.

The country's Supreme Court dismissed the plea for euthanasia of Aruna Shanbaug who was raped 37 years ago and now restricted to a hospital bed in a coma since the incident in Mumbai.

A two-judge bench rejected the petition saying that the petitioner Pinki Virani's relationship to the patient does not give her the right to appeal on Shanbaug's behalf.

Virani, who has written a book on Shanbaug, had said that keeping the patient alive violates her right to live with dignity.

The hospital where a ward boy raped Shanbaug who worked there as a nurse, has been arguing it will continue to care for Shanbaug.