The Jurisprudence Of A Dignified Exit: Analysing Harish Rana V. Union Of India
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 25
- 2 min read
Paavan Sidhu, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Hunar Choudhary, University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
ABSTRACT
The following paper analyses the recent Supreme Court Judgement of Harish Rana v. Union of India, which for the first time allowed a person in a permanent vegetative state to pass away without further prolonging his agony and the hardships he was facing being alive only due to the medical support. This marks a shift of the hesitance of the Courts in India from not granting the ‘Right to Die’ in earlier cases to now finally allowing it. The paper further explains the main issues before the Court, the Court’s clarifications and explanations and how this verdict stands as a landmark one in jurisprudence.
INTRODUCTION
A Division Bench of the Supreme Court of India consisting of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Viswanathan, delivered a landmark verdict in Harish Rana v. Union of India on 11 March, 2026 and transitioned the Right to Die with Dignity from merely a Constitutional idea to a reality. This case represents the first time that a person in at Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) has been deprived of life support in the form of Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration (CANH), who was surviving on the same for nearly 13 years allowing them to pass with dignity. This marks the Court’s revolutionary classification of Feeding tubes as medical treatment and not just basic care, neutralising its criminal liability and draws a linkage between passive euthanasia and palliative care. It also marks the judicial shift from Sanctity of Life to Quality of Life doctrine in the post- pandemic era.
Throughout the Indian Constitution’s history, ‘Article 21’- which guarantees the ‘Right to Life and Personal Liberty’- has been the most flexible and expansive clause. What started as a mere right against unlawful deprivation of life now includes various other attributes which signify the quality of life rights, including the Right to Die with Dignity. The Right to Die with dignity was first recognised in the Gian Kaur case and later solidified in the Common Cause v. Union of India which recognised the Right to Die with Dignity as a Fundamental Right under Article 21, but it remained largely theoretical due to complexities of procedure and lack of implementation in the real world.
