New Delhi: After 13 years spent in a persistent vegetative state, Harish Rana, a 32-year-old Delhi resident, has been granted the right to have his life-sustaining medical treatment withdrawn. In a landmark ruling delivered on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of India allowed his parents’ plea for passive euthanasia, marking a significant moment in the country’s evolving jurisprudence on the “right to die with dignity.”
A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan delivered the pivotal verdict, emphasising that the central question in such cases is not whether death serves a patient’s best interest, but rather whether the continuation of life-sustaining treatment does. The court also clarified that clinically administered nutrition, such as that received by Rana, constitutes a form of medical treatment and can be withdrawn if medical boards determine there is no meaningful prospect of recovery and recommend its cessation.