Pinki Virani

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Pinki Virani
Born (1959-01-30) 30 January 1959 (age 65)
Bombay, India
OccupationJournalist and writer
Spouse Shankkar Aiyar

Pinki Virani (born 30 January 1959) is an Indian writer, journalist, human-rights activist and writer. She is the author of Once was Bombay, [1] Aruna's Story, Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India (which won the National Award), [2] and Deaf Heaven. [3] Her fifth book is called Politics of the Womb -- The Perils of Ivf, Surrogacy & Modified Babies. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Virani was born in Mumbai, India, 30 January 1959, 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. [5] She moved from daily journalism when she published her first book.

Virani is the author of five books. Aruna's Story is about the rape of a nurse that left her in a coma. The book forms part of a 52-minute documentary, produced by the PSBT, titled Passive Euthanasia: Kahaani Karuna Ki. Theatre director Arvind Gaur scripted and directed it as solo play Aruna's Story. Solo act performed by Lushin Dubey [6] [7] Bitter Chocolate is about child sexual abuse in India. A solo play based on this book was scripted-directed by Arvind Gaur and performed by Lushin Dubey. [8] [9] [10] Once Was Bombay is a sociology book. Deaf Heaven, her first work of fiction, experiments with form and style to warn of the danger of the tipping over of a modern country into neo-fascism. In Politics Of The Womb – The Perils Of Ivf, Surrogacy & Modified Babies (2016), Virani criticises IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction when used on women in aggressively repetitive cycles and calls for a worldwide ban on commercial surrogacy and other forms of third-party assisted reproduction. [11]

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. [12] 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 42 years, until her death of pneumonia in 2015. [13] In Virani's 2009 petition, she argued that the "continued existence of Aruna is in violation of her right to live in dignity". The Supreme Court made its decision on 7 March 2011. [14] It rejected the plea to discontinue Aruna's life support but issued a set of broad guidelines legalising passive euthanasia in India. The Supreme Court also refused to recognise Virani as the "next friend" of Shanbaug, a description Virani had used to file the petition. [15]

Personal life

She is married to Shankkar Aiyar, who is a journalist and the author of Accidental India. [16]

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Virani, Pinki, 1959- (2001). Once was Bombay. New Delhi: Penguin. ISBN   0-14-028791-4. OCLC   49350714.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Srinivasan, Madhumita (5 August 2015). "Theatre tribute to Aruna Shanbaug". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  3. ↑ R. Krithika (19 July 2009). "As we see ourselves". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Egg Commerce". Daily Pioneer. 25 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Pinki Virani". HarperCollins. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Pratyush Patra. "Aruna Shanbaug's story retold on stage". Times of India . Delhi,India. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  7. ↑ Shikha Jain (21 October 2018). "Aruna's Story: She was no less a martyr who sparked progressive change" . Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  8. ↑ Drama critic (7 January 2004). "Nobody's Child". Indian Express . Archived from the original on 29 September 2004. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
  9. ↑ Drama critic (11 April 2005). "An unspoken bitter truth". The Hindu . Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  10. ↑ SHALINI UMACHANDRAN (12 September 2004). "It happens here too". The Hindu . Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 30 September 2004. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Pinki Virani on commercial surrogacy: 'Worst kind of patriarchy posturing as pro-woman choice'". Firstpost. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "India court admits plea to end life of rape victim". BBC News, Delhi. 17 December 2009.
  13. ↑ "Aruna Shanbaug: Brain-damaged India nurse dies 42 years after rape". BBC News. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "After 36 yrs of immobility, a fresh hope of death". Indian Express. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "Supreme Court decision on Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug versus Union of India" (PDF). Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "Virani saga". The Tribune . 1 August 2009.
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