India Moves Closer To Legalized Killing

As with Quebec, India moves closer to legalizing medicalized killing.

Passive euthanasia gets law panel push

The Law Commission has made a recommendation to the government to initiate measures to enact a comprehensive law on passive euthanasia, subject to certain safeguards. “It’s not objectionable from a legal and constitutional point of view,” the commission, which advises the government on legal issues, said.

In April 2011, the UPA government had asked the commission to study the feasibility of framing a law for euthanasia after the SC in the Aruna Shanbaug case legalised passive euthanasia and said its verdict will be the law of the land until Parliament enacted a law on the issue.

“(It’s) desirable to enact a law on the lines suggested by the commission at the earliest, so that uncertainty may be resolved and the procedure prescribed by the SC may be refined,” Justice PV Reddi, the commission’s chairman said in a communication to the law minister Salman Khurshid.

In an earlier report too, the commission had recommended legalising passive euthanasia. more

India: More Calls For Medicalized Killing

The drumbeat for legalizing euthanasia in India continues, the latest coming from an elderly schoolteacher who petitioned the state for killing but was turned down. We’ll see more and more of these reports in the future masquerading as “honest debate” on the issue.

'With time, India will accept mercy killing'

H B Karibasamma is hopeful that India will make euthanasia legal, like in some countries in the West.

The 73-year-old retired primary school teacher who has been suffering from various health problems for the past 14 years had written to the President and Prime Minister seeking permission for euthanasia. However, on Wednesday the high court rejected her plea based on reports by neurosurgical and psychiatric experts from Nimhans that she does not suffer any pain or severe ailment.
"As a retired teacher I manage with my pension. But others who are poor and do not have money should not suffer like me. How will they cope if they are poor?" she asks.

She recently collected over 1,500 euthanasia supporting letters from retired state government employees, and another 10,000 letters from people from other walks of life. "My 14-year struggle for this new law may become fruitful in the future with these letters," she contended. more

More Death Requests From India

Over the as two tears or so we’ve seen an increasing number of Indian citizens asking to be medically killed. Concerning.

72-yr-old’s mercy killing plea rejected

The high court has rejected the euthanasia plea of a 72-year-old retired teacher from Davanagere, who sought the court's permission to die. Justice Ajit Gunjal on Wednesday disposed of HB Karibasamma's petition based on reports by neurosurgical and psychiatric experts from Nimhans. more

Indian Officials Respond To Euthanasia Request

Indian authorities have responded with support to the parents seeking euthanasia for their two crippled children.

Euthanasia case: Government offers financial, medical help

Responding to the application of the couple who sought euthanasia for their two children who have been paralysed for years, the district administration and NGOs have come forward to help the couple get proper medication and financial aid for the kids.

Udaipur collector, Hemant Gera after receiving the application by Ramila Devi, the children's mother sent a three-member team to the village to know the plight of the family.

"Our team visited them and assured them that we will provide them all possible help and requested them not request for euthanasia. I have also sanctioned a disability pension of Rs 500 each for the two kids Bhumika Kumari (8) and Tanish (4). Likewise, the family which is already below poverty line (BPL) will get a house under CM Awas Yojna," said Hemant Gera while talking to TOI on Sunday. more

India: More In Poverty Call For Euthanasia

We’re seeing this more and more in the developing world: Requests for euthanasia as a means of escaping extreme poverty and suffering. It’s popping up especially in India after some high-profile requests for euthanasia a few years ago.

Parents of paralysed children want euthanasiaUdaipur: The parents of two children paralysed by illness have appealed for mercy killing of their children because they are simply too poor to take care of them or to get them treated.
 The couple, who live in Udaipur's Sallada village, wrote to the District Collector through their gram sabha out of sheer desperation after their second child, who is four, was paralysed. The older one, eight-year-old Bhumika, too was paralysed two years after birth.
 "We wrote to the collector, asking that either the children be helped in some way or they be allowed to die," mother Ramila Teli said. "We can't bear their suffering anymore." more