Article 21 of the Indian constitution says that ‘no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law’ i.e. it is the responsibility of state to protect and ensure good quality of life to its people. Right to life is interpreted in various presidents as it includes right to food, right to education, right to privacy etc. but could it extend to such extent that a person could decide not to live anymore.
Voluntary death has been justified in many religion, such as in Hinduism and Buddhism by prayopaveshan it is a practice in which people starve to death and according to ancient Hindu philosophy the Lord Ram and his brothers took ‘JAL SAMADHI’. Jainism also allow his followers to embrace death by fasting, it is believed that moksha could be achieved that way but in Muslim, Christian and Jewish laws all are against this they believe that all the life is sacred as they are the gift from god. The ide could be traced from Socrates ancient Greek and Rome philosophy at that helping others to put their lives at rest is permitted.
Now a day’s suicide and abatement to suicide both are punishable according to Section 305,306 and 309 are a punishable offence but it is not possible to punish the person who is successfully committing it but the attempt is however punishable .The people who are able to express their desire but some reason need assistance from doing this the people assisting are than punished for the abatement.
However, the major argument in the favour are that, it could be a way to end extremely, miserable and painful life of any patient who is at the death row as it relieves his family members from emotional stress that re building up and also the patient has the right to refuse medical treatment and it also free up the medical funds for the people who really needed them.
On the other hand if it is permitted it will devalue human dignity and will offend the principle of sanctity of life. It will leave sick, disable person and other old peoples who are seen as a burden on family more vulnerable than rest of the population and poor peoples could also resolved to this in order to avoid pecuniary difficulties of medication.
In P.Rathinam v. Union of India. The Supreme Court held that criminal penalties of suicide violates the right to life and declare 309 IPC unconstitutional but then in Gian Kaur vs. State of Punjab., five judges Bench held that the right to life includes right to live with human dignity which means existence of such right up to the natural end of life but it does not include death with dignity by the statement supreme court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 309 IPC and overruled the P.Rathinam case. Then in Naresh Marotrao Sakhre v. Union of India, court held that mercy killing is nothing but homicide no matter what the circumstances is.
At the end I want to conclude it by saying that Right to die should never be come into action but in some rarest cases in which a patient is suffering from such disorder that his will to live is finished and he doesn’t have any goals left than he should be exempted and could be given permission for moksha.
REFERENCES
https://www.law.cornell.edu/women-and-justice/resource/p_rathinam_v_union_of_india
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
Do follow me on Facebook, Twitter Youtube and Instagram.
The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.
If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com
We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.
We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge