INTRODUCTION 

Euthanasia... is simply to be able to die with dignity at a moment when life is devoid of it. ~ Marya Mannes 

Multifarious living species are found on this planet but the foremost and the extremely powerful amongst all in various contexts is the human. Human civilization started by setting some rules and regulations so that the life of the people can run smoothly with the least friction. Gradually when decades and centuries passed and circa changed, the method of ruling changed too from Monarchy to Democracy. More rights were assigned to the people. When the Indian constitution was formed and enacted on the 26th of January 1950, the most important part was Part III which chatters about Fundamental rights(Articles 12 to 35). Amongst all of them, one of the most important is Article 21 which talks about the Protection of Life and Personal Liberty. Article 21 is not an exhaustive right that's why as per the requirement of time Supreme Court or High Court interpreted it and unveiled various other rights hidden in it. In Kharak Singh Case 1960, Supreme Court delineated the meaning of Life and said it means 'Life with dignity', which distinguishes animal life and human life. 

In the same manner, in P. Rathinam Case 1994, established the Right to Die in Article 21, which provides a right to every to die with dignity. 

EUTHANASIA AND ITS TYPES 

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and litterateur who invented the term 'euthanasia' at the beginning of the 17th century. Euthanasia is derived from two Greek words 'eu' implies good and 'Thanatos' implies death. Thus, collectively it means good or easy death. In simple terms, Euthanasia means a method that is or can be practiced to give death to someone deliberately by removing external influence or by inserting external influence on the person, who is in extreme pain and in a condition where he cannot revert to healthy conditions. In other words, Euthanasia can be deemed as assisted killing for those people who are suffering from some sort of chronic disease that is incurable. But it is also used to kill or end the life oneself cause of other reasons like old age, loneliness, and having no target in life. Euthanasia can be understood broadly by its types. It has two types which are in the following manner: 

1. Active Euthanasia: 

When the person has to end his\her life due to some chronic disease and suffering from great pain which has no medication and pain is unbearable or has no chance to bring any life improvement, then with the assistance of doctors one can end one's life. There are very few countries in the world that allow it, like Switzerland and Belgium. It may have two situations when it can be done: 

• Consciously or Voluntarily: When an individual is in a condition where he can give his consent to end his life by allowing the doctor to give some sort of lethal injection or something fatal so that he can die with dignity and in tranquility. For instance, If any individual is suffering from some sort of neurological disorder that is making his life obnoxious and disrespectful. In such a condition Active Euthanasia can work. 
• Unconsciously or Involuntarily: When an individual is in a condition where he cannot give his consent to end his life. So in such a situation, it is in the hand of his parents\relatives\court\governments to think about his deplorable condition and end his life with dignity. For instance, if someone is in a coma for decades, he can be allowed Active Euthanasia by giving some lethal injection or poison.

2. Passive Euthanasia: 

When the person has to or wants to end his life due to some chronic disease owing to which he is suffering from a lot of pain and pain is unbearable or has no chance to bring any life improvement, his life is running only on the medical support then with the assistance of doctors, one can end one's life. In this life let it end naturally by removing the life support system. This is called Passive Euthanasia. 

It may have two situations when it can be done: 

• Consciously or Voluntarily: When an individual is in a condition where he can give his consent to end his life by allowing the doctor to remove his life support system. For instance, if someone is on a ventilator with bearable pain there is no chance to save him. 
• Unconsciously or Involuntarily: When an individual is in a condition where he cannot give his consent to end his life because he is in a vegetative state or unconscious. So in such a situation, it is in the hand of his parents\relatives\court\governments to think about his deplorable condition and remove the life support system and let him die naturally. 

EUTHANASIA VS OTHERS 

Since our childhood we have often seen that there are some terms which we have used synonymously however, having reached a certain step of education we have got to know that Ahh! We have been making mistakes from the very beginning. Additionally, in some cases, we find it difficult to create distinctions with other terms. The same also occurs with the term Euthanasia. Thus, put our concern in this direction to understand it. 

• Euthanasia vs Assisted Suicide

Assisted Suicide is often considered synonymous with euthanasia but there is a slight difference in it.

The distinction is, in this death is given to the person by someone with his permission or without his permission whereas in Assisted suicide person is just helped, he kills by himself. For instance, there is a Swiss organization 'Dignitas' which gives an overdose drink anesthesia a person takes by himself. 

• Euthanasia vs Suicide 

The distinction between Euthanasia and suicide is Euthanasia talks about giving death to only those who are suffering from severe and incurable diseases or if the person is in a vegetative state and has no chance to recover back whereas suicide can be committed by healthy\unhealthy person due to various reasons like stress, depression and major or minor problem in life. 

EUTHANASIA AND THE WORLD

The legality of euthanasia in the world is not very clear because there are some nations where it is legal and there are some where it is illegal. The interesting part is somewhere one type is legal and another is not like in India, i.e., Passive Euthanasia is legal but Active Euthanasia is not. Similarly, in there other parts of the world the condition is in the following manner. 

• In Switzerland euthanasia is banned but assisted dying is allowed in the presence of a doctor. 
• In America, euthanasia is allowed in some states like Washington, Oregon, Montana, etc. 
• Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands have allowed euthanasia and assisted killing for all ages of patients. Belgium is the first nation to allow both types of assisted killing for all ages. As per the data of Belgium's national euthanasia committee, from 2003 to 2013, 8752 people ended their life through euthanasia. The Netherlands allowed it for children with parental consent. 

DEVELOPMENT OF EUTHANASIA THROUGH CASE LAWS IN INDIA 

As we know that Article 21 is not exhaustive thus judiciary kept on interpreting it and adding various rights. As far as the Right to Die and euthanasia is concerned some case laws led to the development and legalization of this phenomenon in India. Those cases and their judgments are given below. 

• P. Rathinam Case 1994: In this court held that the right to die comes under the right to life and personal liberty. And said Sections 309 of IPC is unconstitutional and against Articles 14 and 21 because committing suicide represents a psychological problem for a person and in such a situation person should not be jailed but allow the state to get himself treated in a hospital. 
• Gian Kaur Case 1996: In this case, the court turned down the decision of P. Rathinam Case concerning the issues like immolation and strikes to death. 
• Aruna Ramachandran Shaunbaug Case 2011: If someone asks about the most famous case of euthanasia in India then the first case which comes to mind is Aruna Shaunbaug Case. In this the social activist Pinki Virani filed Case in Supreme Court concerning giving euthanasia to Aruna Shaunbaug who was in a coma since 1973, court accepted the petition and constituted a committee of 3 doctors who had to ascertain the condition of Aruna. Doctors said that Aruna's brain is not dead and she responds sometimes in her way. Therefore, the court denied Passive Euthanasia for Aruna. Aruna died naturally in 2015 of pneumonia. 
• Common Cause Case 2005/2018: There is an NGO called Common Cause, which filed a petition in 2005 concerning euthanasia. The five-judge constitutional bench comprised the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Dipak Misra, Justice, A.K. Sikri, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justice Ashok Bhushan. After a long time in 2018, the final judgment of the court came and the court held that Article 21 has incorporated the ‘right to die with dignity’ and gives the permission to make a 'Living will'. This term was first proposed by Luis Kutner, in a speech to the Euthanasia Society of America in 1967 and published in a law journal in 1969. In this, a person is allowed to make his will to remain untreated in a situation where he is suffering from an incurable disease in the future and if his life is being safeguarded on the life support system and the chance of his recovery is very feeble, he should be remained untreated or remove the life support system so that he can die peacefully. It has a procedure to do. The person will have to make his living will before the District Magistrate with sound mind along with two persons as a shred of evidence. Thus, in this way, Passive Euthanasia is allowed in India now. 
• Modification in 2018 Judgement: The Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on 24th January 2023 modified its 2018 order which was headed by Justice K M Joseph. There should be two medical boards. One would be the primary board and another to review the condition of the patient. Boards will be constituted by the Hospital. And there will be one doctor from the district medical officer on the review board. The decision will be taken by the boards of the doctors within 48 hours. Earlier district Magistrate had to set up the review board but now the hospital will establish boards. Earlier required the consent of a judicial magistrate but now just need to inform him. Earlier it required two witnesses and a signature by the Magistrate; now a notary or gazetted officer can sign the living will in the presence of two witnesses instead of the Magistrate’s countersign. All efforts were made to ease the procedure. 

CURRENT STATUS OF EUTHANASIA IN INDIA 

As per the judgment of the Supreme Court in Common Cause Case 2018, Passive Euthanasia is legal now with some strict guidelines but Active Euthanasia is still illegal. 

DEBATE OF ACTIVE EUTHANASIA:

So far, we have understood what is Active and Passive Euthanasia, now, we are to move to the next stage of it. And that is about the legality of Active Euthanasia. Before reaching any decision we need to understand that what are the arguments concerning this issue.

1. Arguments in Favour

• It provides a way to relieve extreme pain.
• Euthanasia can save the lives of others by the donation of vital organs.
• For people who are old and childless, there is no one to take care of them. 
• To give a painless and dignified death. 

Examples: 

1. Jean Luc Godard was a legend of New Wave Cinema in France who committed assisted suicide at the age of 91, in September 2022. 
2. Izabella Sacewicz: She is a girl from Germany, suffering from Huntington's Disease ( a degenerative neurological illness). She has lost the ability to walk eat, speak properly, and can't even think by herself. She can be allowed to go Active Euthanasia if her parents allow it only then. 
3. Narayan Lavate and his wife, 2018: A matter covered by media in 2018 in Mumbai, where the old couple was childless. The man whose name was Narayan Lavate, was 86 years old. He had worked in State Transport Limited and got retired in 1989 and his wife was 79 years old and was a principal in a government school. They asked for Active Euthanasia because they became very old and they didn't want to die in a very inappropriate manner where there is no one to look after them if they fall ill. Their petition was rejected. In this case, Active Euthanasia can be allowed because they don't have anyone to take care of each other. If one dies or falls ill, the other does not have the power to take him or her to the hospital. 

2. Arguments in Opposition 

• Promote the concept of a Joint family to keep familial relations alive. So that people can stay happy and want to prolong their life.
• Promote the people to do more work and endeavor to find the reason for happiness. 
• Promote the concept of ikigai 
• The moral and ethical responsibility of society is to keep the standards of life high so that the desire of humans never ends and they always try to find some scope to do more for the people and society. 
• There are chances to misuse it. Children can misuse it, to not take care of their old parents, which is immoral and unethical. 

Examples:

1. Two Cases from Kerala: It is the case of the ask of Active Euthanasia. In 2000, two ‘suicide petitions’ were filed before the Kerala High Court. Which 80-year-old people were saying that they have lived their life and fulfilled their all duties and responsibilities now they don't want to live anymore? They want to end their life. The Kerala High Court rejected both petitions remarking on three things:
   (i) Suicide is suicide irrespective of motives.
   (ii)By allowing this kind of petition, it will encourage the Right to Die which can be misused.
   (iii) If a healthy person dies, it is the loss of society. 
2. Centenarians of Japan: There is an islet in Japan, Okinawa, where most of the old age people have crossed the age of 80 despite that they want to live more with happiness. And not only this most of 100 cross-age people are found on that very island. They are very old too but they never left the hope to live more and stay happy. 
3. There are some great examples in the world who never left the hope of courage and always fought back and got their seat of the crown from hard work such as Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking, Ira Singhal IAS, Suraj Tiwari IAS, and many more. 

CONCLUSION 

I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their own life, and those that help them should be free from prosecution. ~ Stephen Hawking 

As time is changing, new phenomena are attached to the system and society. As we know that with the judgment of 2018, Supreme Court has allowed Passive Euthanasia and has given direction to the Government to make laws on it. As far as Active Euthanasia is concerned it should be allowed but for only those people who are attached to some very obnoxious and deplorable reasons which have left no scope for an individual to stay alive and not for those who are depressed just from the challenges of life. For instance, those patients who are in a coma for years where there is no scope to come back, just like the case of Aruna Shaunbaug, could be allowed Active Euthanasia for her mercy death but not for those who don't have any ailment but for the sake, they have meager reasons to not live just like the case of the Kerala High Court of the year 2000 of two old age people. 

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