It was one tragedy that lived with us for years - a caregiver who had to be cared for by her loving colleagues after a ward boy in a hospital raped and strangulated her, leaving her brain damaged and in a vegetative state in 1973, confined to a bed for 42 long years until her death on May 18 2015.
The death of a Kolkata doctor of suspected rape and murder, whose body was found on Friday in the RG Kar Hospital run by the Bengal government in Kolkata, underlines how, once again, women and indeed men at times remain vulnerable to attacks at the workplace, especially in hospitals where they have to work odd hours, often moving about in empty corridors and rooms to access medicines and equipment for patiends long after other staff members have left for home.
The ward attendant attacked Shanbaug, then 25, in Mumbai's King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, where she worked.
He assaulted Shanbaug on November 27, 1973, attempting to strangle her with a chain, which cut off the oxygen supply to her brain. When she was found it was too late. She had been completely immobilised.
The rapist, Sohanlal Walmiki, was sentenced only for seven years on charges of robbery and attempted murder, but not rape as he had sodomised her, which was not counted as rape then.
He was released and disappeared till a newspaper tracked him down much later in 2015.
Talking to the reporter Walmiki said he had had a troubled relationship with Shanbaug and she was "picking on him." They had an argument and she could have been hurt in the scuffle that followed, he said, denying that he raped her.
He said he regretted the incident, but his life seemed to have gone back to normal after the horrific crime he committed.
Shanbaug, meanwhile, was fed through a tube for years in a room at the same hospital where her life had been destroyed. Her nursing companions and later other nurses who joined the hospital would clean her and treat her bedsores, turn her when they thought she had been lying in one position for too long.
Shanbaug died after developing pneumonia, much later after a plea filed in court for mercy killing was rejected by the Supreme Court.
The Internet reacted strongly to her story - forgotten largely by many- till her death.
"It represents everything that is wrong with India's society."
The story "will always shame India," they posted on social media platforms.
The tragedy, like Kolkata's, shook people to the core.
Two women. Lives cut down at their prime, for parents to mourn and friends and family to lament over.
They had been women who treated patients, cured the sick and the infirm, brought solace to the suffering.
Dead because of a monster's perversity and sick mind.
It's for the courts and lawmakers to deal with such criminals and give them the punishment they deserve.
But what about an organisation and its administrative officials who are responsible for the safety of their workers?
What are they doing about protecting women, or for that matter, men, who have to work late hours, sometimes alone, in hospitals, news agencies, at airports and IT companies?
Every organisation has to ensure there are guards posted at strategic locations. CCTV cameras have to be installed at every open, isolated spot.
More than four to five people have to work together in late night shifts Reporting of unusual behaviour of staff members and immediate action in case of any untoward incident should be the norm, not the exception.
Contact number of police stations should be put up at strategic spots with regular police patrolling of CBDs at late hours.
Any office which has even one person working late has to have security presence with entry and exit of outsiders, cleaning staff monitored strictly round the clock.
And guards should not be sacked in case an employee loses his or her life while at work.
It should be the administration that should be questioned... and sacked if officials are found to have not been strict enough to monitor security measures.
A life lost is too expensive for any organisation. Someone senior's head has to roll for this, not just that of a security guard.
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