EUTHANASIA IN INDIA: A REVIEW ON ITS CONSTITUTIONAL VALIDITY
By Jayanta Boruah
Euthanasia has been made legal in India fully in March 2018 by the Supreme Court of India while deciding the Common Cause Case. It has also allowed living wills and has even formulated guidelines on this behalf. But this journey of the Indian Judiciary for making euthanasia legal in India was marked with several controversies and even now also, there are opinions for and against this legality. There has been much debate on the issue that whether the Right to Life includes the Right to Die or not. In such a situation it becomes very necessary to review the opinions of various scholars to determine the validity of the Supreme Court’s action, especially due to the unique system of Rule of Law in India. In the absence of a clear law on this behalf in the country, it may become very difficult to enforce this rule adequately. Further, in India, it is alleged to have a weak Rule of Law. As such euthanasia which deals with the life of human beings may exploit the vulnerable section of the society, for which an understanding of the concept of euthanasia in the Indian context attains much prominence. This Article, therefore, attempts to study the concept of euthanasia with its different legal parameters in different countries across the world and will also try to understand the Indian legal standpoint on this matter. The article will further focus on the various arguments for and against euthanasia in India to understand the validity of euthanasia laws in India.
Keywords: Constitutional Validity, Euthanasia, Indian Jurisprudence, Living Wills, Right to Die, and Right to Life
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