The Supreme Court of India, on Wednesday, March 11 2026,authorised passive euthanasia of 32-year-old Harish Rana, who has been in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for the last 13 years, following an accident in 2013.
Withdrawal of life support must not be an ‘act of abandonment’: Supreme Court judgment
This is perhaps the first time the apex court has allowed the use of passive euthanasia to alleviate the suffering of a person.
What happened to Harish Rana?
On August 20, 2013, while celebrating Raksha Bandhan, Harish, then a 20-year-old B.Tech. student at Panjab University, fell from the fourth-floor balcony of his paying guest accommodation in Chandigarh. The fall resulted in severe traumatic brain injury and 100% quadriplegic disability.
