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Harish Rana, first to die by passive euthanasia, is consigned to flames

Standing by the pyre of his son on Wednesday morning, Ashok Rana told those gathered around him: “We do not want to bid farewell in grief. We will bid farewell to his soul in peace.” About a 100 people – family members, neighbours, and followers of the Brahmakumaris spiritual movement, stood with folded hands. Among […]

4 min readNew DelhiMar 26, 2026 05:00 AM IST

Harish Rana, first to die by passive euthanasia, is consigned to flames

During Harish Rana’s last rites at Green Park cremation ground in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

Standing by the pyre of his son on Wednesday morning, Ashok Rana told those gathered around him: “We do not want to bid farewell in grief. We will bid farewell to his soul in peace.”

About a 100 people – family members, neighbours, and followers of the Brahmakumaris spiritual movement, stood with folded hands. Among them was Nirmala, the mother of Harish Rana.

This is how Sister Lovely of the Brahmakumaris, who has known the Rana family for more than five years, remembered Harish’s farewell. “Nirmala kept faith in herself. She did not shed a single tear,” Sister Lovely told The Indian Express.

Read | In death by euthanasia, Harish Rana donates heart valve, cornea: How are these harvested and used?

Harish, 31, died on Tuesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), becoming the first person in India to be permitted passive euthanasia under a Supreme Court order.

heart valve donation explained, harish rana, euthanasia,

Harish Rana was granted permission for passive euthanasia by the Supreme Court earlier this month. (Express photo)

He had been in a coma since 2013, after he fell from a fourth-floor balcony in Chandigarh as a B.Tech student. For 13 years, he remained in a permanent vegetative state, sustained by artificial nutrition through a feeding tube and, at times, oxygen support.

The last rites began just after 9 am at the Green Park cremation ground in South Delhi. Harish’s body was laid on a platform covered with rose petals, and his family gathered around. His younger brother, Ashish Rana, performed the rituals, accompanied by his sister Bhavna.

“The whole family was there. Everyone bid farewell to the soul… In death, as in the years preceding it, the family sought to frame the moment not as an ending but as a transition. There is a journey for a new beginning,” Sister Lovely said, describing the spiritual message shared during the cremation.

The Rana family’s association with the Brahmakumaris ha

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s deepened over time. Ashok Rana, who lived in Delhi for almost two decades before moving to Raj Empire Society in Ghaziabad a few years ago, became a regular at the nearby Brahmakumaris centre. “He comes every day,” Sister Lovely said.

Sources at AIIMS told The Indian Express on Wednesday that the family donated Harish’s corneas and heart valve.

For more than a decade, the life of the family had revolved around the room in which Harish had lain. He needed constant care — feeding through a gastrostomy tube four times a day, tending to bedsores, physiotherapy, and turning his body to prevent further injury.

The financial burden was heavy. After retiring from a catering job, Ashok began selling sandwiches and burgers at a local cricket ground on weekends to boost the family’s income. His wife, Nirmala, remained by Harish’s side for much of each day.

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In 2024, the Delhi High Court rejected the family’s plea to withdraw life support. The Supreme Court initially declined relief but allowed them to return. When they did, the court issued a landmark order on March 11, 2026, permitting the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, extending the principles laid down in the 2018 Common Cause v. Union of India judgment.

Passive euthanasia allows the withdrawal of life support, letting death occur naturally with palliative care. For Harish, this meant the removal of nutrition through a PEG tube under medical supervision at AIIMS, where he had been taken on March 14.

On Tuesday evening, that process came to an end.

Vidheesha Kuntamalla

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: * Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs * Policy responses to campus mental health * Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University * Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t (February 2025) ‘Ma’am… may I share something?’ Growing up online and alone, why Delhi’s teens are reaching out (December 2025) ... Read More

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