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Pinki Virani

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Pinki Virani
Born (1959-01-30) 30 January 1959 (age 65)
Bombay, India
OccupationJournalist and writer
SpouseShankkar 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]

Early life and education

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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

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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

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Main article: 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

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

Bibliography

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  • Aruna's Story: the true account of a rape and its aftermath. Viking, 1998.
  • Bitter Chocolate: child sexual abuse in India, Penguin Books, 2000
  • Once was Bombay. Viking. 1999. ISBN 0-670-88869-9.
  • Deaf Heaven, HarperCollins Publishers India, 2009. ISBN 81-7223-849-5.
  • Politics Of The Womb—The Perils Of IVF, Surrogacy & Modified Babies, Penguin Random House, 2016. ISBN 978-0670088720

References

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  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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