Every year, families across India find themselves in an unbearable position. A loved one lies in a hospital bed. Breathing, but not living. Conscious of nothing. Dependent on machines and tubes for every bodily function.
Harish Rana was 18 when he fell from the fourth floor of his paying guest accommodation in Chandigarh. That was August 2013. He has not responded to the world around him since.
Rana is now in his 30s. He has been in a persistent vegetative state for 13 years. He cannot care for himself. He experiences sleep-wake cycles but shows no meaningful interaction. He is fed through a PEG tube, according to a report.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for his life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan ruled that a medical board may exercise its clinical judgment on withdrawing treatment, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the court in its landmark 2018 judgment in Common Cause v. Union of India.
It is believed to be the first time the court has passed such a direction in an individual case since that ruling.
The road to Wednesday’s judgment was long. Rana’s parents first approached the Delhi High Court, seeking a medical board to examine his condition. The High Court refused.
It held that Rana was not on mechanical life support, could sustain himself without external aid, and was not terminally ill. Passive euthanasia, it said, did not apply.
His parents reportedly challenged that order in the Supreme Court in 2024. The court initially declined relief but left the door open. When Rana’s condition remained unchanged, his father filed a fresh petition. The court reserved its verdict on January 15.
The larger question: where is the law?
Wednesday’s ruling also carried a sharp message for Parliament.
The court noted that India still has no legislation governing passive euthanasia, eight years after the 2018 Common Cause judgment recognised the right to die with dignity as a fundamental right under Article 21.
The history of inaction is long. The 196th Law Commission flagged the issue in 2006 and appended a draft bill. Parliament did nothing.
The 241st Law Commission revisited it in 2012 with a revised bill. Again, nothing. When asked in the Rajya Sabha whether legislation was planned, the Health Minister said the Supreme Court guidelines would have the effect of law and no bill was proposed.
In 2016, the Health Ministry published a draft bill and invited public comments. After the consultation stage, it went nowhere.
The 2018 Supreme Court judgment laid down comprehensive guidelines to fill the void. But even then, Justice AK Sikri expressed a “pious hope” that Parliament would eventually act.
That hope, the court said on Wednesday, has now become an imminent necessity. It urged the Union Government to enact comprehensive legislation on end-of-life care, one that would bring clarity, coherence and certainty to what it called pertinent, practical and emotionally charged issues.
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