Another plea in Kerala HC for right to die

An 80-year old retired school master, C A Thomas Chakramakkil of Pavaratty in Trissur District, had approached the High Court in June this year for a direction to the Central and State Governments to start `Mahaprasthana Kendras’ or death clinics attached to each district hospitals in Kerala so as to facilitate voluntary death and donation of body organs.

The present petitioner, N Mukundan Pillai of Kareekode, Kollam, who after retirement as headmaster has been working as the Principal of NSS Public School, Thiruvananthapuram, has a similar plea.

According to the petitioner, he is in good health, both of mind and body. Being an absolutely contended person, who believes that allhis duties and obligations are over, he has no further motivation to live any longer. His only desire in life is to have an `honourable exit’ from life while he is mentally and physically healthy.

A man who thinks he has lived enough and who is contended with his accomplishments in life should have the freedom to choose the time, place and mode of his death so as to have an honourable exit from life. Such a freedom alone can embellish the enjoyment of the freedom of life guaranteed and protected by the law, he has pleaded.

Voluntary death is in contradistinction with suicide which is the last resort of those in frustration. Ancient civilisations, including that of India, accepted voluntary death. The notion of Kashi Yatra/Mahaprasthana needs to be understood in this sense. The concept of Samadhi and Nirvana form part of the heritage of Indian thinking. But the failure of Anglo-Saxon judicial system and Western jurisprudence to appreciate the distinction between voluntary death andsuicide caused misunderstanding the traditional and age-old practice of voluntary death as suicide.

Voluntary death is a customary practice in India from time immemorial. Hence it has the force of law. There is no specific law that prohibits voluntary death that is different from the Western concept of suicide.

Voluntary death is not the suicide that is dealt with under Sections 306 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code. The existing law does not permit suicides. Though a Bench of the Supreme Court held that suicide is part of the right to life, a larger Bench later overruled the decision.

The petitioner has also sought a direction to appoint a commission to study the practice of voluntary death in India and to suggest methods for its practice in the context of scientific and technological advancement.

Other directions sought for are allotment of funds for developing infrastructure facilities for assisting voluntary organisations that are willing to facilitate voluntary death and organising organ banks forpreserving and transplanting organs.