Pinki Virani

Early life and education

Virani was born in Mumbai, India, to Gujarati Muslim parents. Her father owned a shop, and her mother was a teacher. She attended school in Mumbai, Pune and Mussoorie. She went to the US to study for a Masters in Journalism on the Aga Khan Foundation scholarship. She did an internship at The Sunday Times, where she reported extensively on the race riots in Britain.

Career

She started working as a typist at the age of 18. When she returned to India after her scholarship, she worked as a reporter and went on to become India's first woman editor of an evening paper. She moved from daily journalism when she published her first book.

Works

Virani is the author of five books, four of which are non-fiction best-sellers.

Virani's writings may have contributed to India's Parliament passing a law against sexual abuse of children (The Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences) in May 2012. The law includes four of her suggestions to the Standing Committee, it also encompasses several suggestions from her book Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India. The book and a part of its contents has also been quoted in a Madras High Court judgement.

Aruna Shanbaug case

In 2009, Pinki Virani filed a petition in Supreme Court of India on behalf of Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse working at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai on 27 November 1973 when she was sexually assaulted by a sweeper. During the attack, Shanbaug was strangled with a chain, and the deprivation of oxygen left her in a vegetative state. She was treated at KEM following the incident and was kept alive by a feeding tube for 48 years, until her death of pneumonia in 2015. In Virani's 2009 petition, she argued that the "continued existence of Aruna is in violation of her right to live in dignity".

On 7th March 2011, the Supreme Court made its decision, in which it issued a set of broad guidelines legalizing passive euthanasia in India. These guidelines for passive euthanesia—i.e. the decision to withdraw treatment, nutrition, or water—establish that the decision to discontinue life support must be taken by parents, spouse, or other close relatives, or in the absence of them, by a "next friend". This decision requires approval from the concerned High Court.

In its judgement, the court declined to recognize Virani as the "next friend" of Aruna Shanbaug, and instead treated the KEM hospital staff as the "next friend."

We do not mean to decry or disparage what Ms. Pinky Virani has done. Rather, we wish to express our appreciation of the splendid social spirit she has shown. We have seen on the internet that she has been espousing many social causes, and we hold her in high esteem. All that we wish to say is that however much her interest in Aruna Shanbaug may be it cannot match the involvement of the KEM hospital staff who have been taking care of Aruna day and night for 38 years.

Since the KEM Hospital staff wished that Aruna Shanbaug be allowed to live, Virani's petition to withdraw life support was declined. However, the court further stipulated that the KEM hospital staff, with the approval of the Bombay High Court, had the option of withdrawing life support if they changed their mind:

However, assuming that the KEM hospital staff at some future time changes its mind, in our opinion in such a situation the KEM hospital would have to apply to the Bombay High Court for approval of the decision to withdraw life support.

As a part of the judgement, the Supreme Court also expressed appreciation for Virani's work:

We also wish to express our appreciation of Ms. Pinki Virani who filed this petition. Although we have dismissed the petition for the reasons given above, we regard her as a public spirited person who filed the petition for a cause she bona fide regarded as correct and ethical. We hold her in high esteem.

Personal life

She is married to Shankkar Aiyar, who is a journalist and the author of Accidental India.