Boy whose mother sought his mercy killing dies

TIRUPATI: A nine-year-old boy died in the lap of his mother, who was desperately seeking permission from a local court in Punganur, Chittoor district, to end his painful ordeal by mercy killing. Doctors had said that there was no cure for the rare blood disorder that the boy, Harshavardhan, was suffering from.

The parents were too poor to pay for his medical expenses.

G. Aruna, the mother of Harshavardhan, hailing from Beerjepalli village in
Chowdepalli mandal, was going to the Punganur court for the last two days to seek the approval of a designated judge to grant mercy killing of the boy.

According to her, Harshavardhan became bedridden after he met with an
accident at his school about five years ago. At that time, the doctors found
that he had a very rare medical condition that caused him to ooze or sweat
blood from his skin, nose and mouth.

Initially, Aruna and her husband Mani approached several doctors and did
everything they could do to save their child. Even as they ran up huge
debts, they learnt that there was no cure for Harshavardhan’s condition.

“Being from a very poor family, we sold everything we had and even borrowed money from many to save our child. But all our efforts went in vain as the doctors declared that the boy was suffering from a rare disorder which had no cure,” Aruna, speaking through her tears, told media persons.

In the last few years, Aruna approached several hospitals in AP and TN to
save her only son. "She did everything she could do and spent every penny
she had or borrowed from others to get him cured, but nothing could help her save her child. She ran out of money and reached a point where she was
unable to bear the medical expenses any further and could no longer see the
agony of her child. As suggested by our relatives, she tried to move the
court to seek help for the treatment of the boy or grant mercy killing for
him,” a relative of Aruna said.

In this regard, Aruna was coming to Punganur court along with her son to
file a mercy killing petition from the past two days. As the court remained
closed due to holidays, Aruna, carrying her son in her arms, was returning
home in an auto-rickshaw on Tuesday when he suddenly began bleeding and died in her arms.

With the help of locals, the mother carried Harshavardhan to her home in the same autorickshaw. A pall of gloom descended on Beerjepalli. Villagers and relatives gathered in large numbers at Harshvardhan’s house to console his mother.