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Aruna Shanbaug, Who Was In A Coma For 42 Years After Rape, Dies

Aruna Shanbaug, Who Was In A Coma For 42 Year After Rape, Dies
Indian women participate in a candle light vigil at a bus stop where the victim of a deadly gang rape in a moving bus had boarded the bus two years ago, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. The case sparked public outrage and helped make womenâs safety a common topic of conversation in a country where rape is often viewed as a womanâs personal shame to bear. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)
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Indian women participate in a candle light vigil at a bus stop where the victim of a deadly gang rape in a moving bus had boarded the bus two years ago, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. The case sparked public outrage and helped make womenâs safety a common topic of conversation in a country where rape is often viewed as a womanâs personal shame to bear. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

MUMBAI -- World's oldest comatose patient, nurse Aruna Shanbaug, who had been in a vegetative state ever since she was raped, died in Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital on Monday morning. She had been in coma for almost 42 years.

KEM's Dean Avinash Supe said police permissions and other formalities are being completed before finalising Shanbaug's last rites later on Monday.

Supe has made a public appeal to help trace any relatives or people close to Shanbaug who can get in touch with the hospital immediately.

A junior nurse, Shanbaug was brutally raped by contract sweeper boy Sohanlal B. Walmiki in the same hospital on the night of November 27, 1973 when she was changing.

Walmiki had choked her with a chain which cut off oxygen supply to her brain, resulting in injuries to the brain stem, and a cervical chord injury that left her in a vegetative state.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.