From Execution To Salvation: A Constitutional Inquiry Into Death Row Organ Donation In India

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Dr. Shreemanshu Kumar Dash and Sanyukta Kumari

ABSTRACT

Capital punishment in India, though constitutionally upheld under the rarest of rare doctrine, continues to evoke profound constitutional, ethical, and humanitarian debate concerning its necessity, proportionality, and irreversible consequences. This paper advances a novel legal proposition by examining the feasibility of compulsory or voluntary post-mortem harvesting of transplantable organs from death-row convicts whose mercy petitions under Article 72 of the Constitution have been finally rejected by the President of India. It explores whether a constitutionally regulated framework permitting the retrieval of vital organs such as kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, corneas, and pancreas could serve as a lawful supplement to, or consequence of, capital punishment while addressing India's persistent shortage of transplantable organs. The study critically analyses the proposal through the lens of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the Directive Principles of State Policy, the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and relevant international human rights standards. It further evaluates ethical concerns relating to autonomy, informed consent, dignity, and potential coercion, alongside comparative international practices. Finally, the paper proposes a legislative framework incorporating stringent constitutional, medical, and procedural safeguards to balance the objectives of criminal justice with the societal imperative of saving lives through organ transplantation.

Keywords: Capital Punishment, Organ Donation, Article 21, Death Row, Constitutional Law, India, Transplantation, Mercy Petition, Right to Life.

5. FROM EXECUTION TO SALVATION- A CONSTITUTIONAL INQUIRY INTO DEATH ROW ORGAN DONATION IN

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