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“The care of human life and happiness and not their
destruction is the first and only legitimate object of
good Governance.” (Thomas Jefferson) Every living being
is desirous to live and enjoy the fruits of life.
The belief in the special worth of human life is at the
heart of every civilized society. It is this fundamental
value which has laid the foundation for all laws. Every
human being in the world has a right to be seen as a
person before the law. Every one has a right to life and
this right is to be protected by law.
Art. 21 of the Indian constitution guarantees right to
life and personal liberty as a fundamental, natural
inalienable right, it says “ No person shall be deprived
of his life or personal liberty except according to
procedure established by law.” Just one sentence, yet
much meaning for practical living, for every Indian
citizen is couched into this article, which is ever
expanding in its horizon. Right to life includes right
to live with human dignity. It would include all those
aspects of life which would to make a persons life
meaningful. The right to drinking water, pollution free
environment, right to food, right to education, right to
medical care etc..
Our efforts to bring drinking water, road facility,
electricity to the poor areas have met with success.
Noise pollution with loud speakers are very common. We
were able to curb the noise pollution to a great extent
in our village because we have a right to pollution free
environment. The loud speaker is a public address system
which has to be used only with permission. Even if
permission is obtained the volume is not to be too loud
to disturb the others. The Noise Pollution [Regulation
and control] Rules 2000 section 5 lays down restrictions
on the use of loud speaker/public address system. There
are many laws to ensure the quality of life and to
promote and develop life.
The recently passed act of the protection of women from
Domestic Violence Act, 2005 aims at protecting the life
of women within the family situations. Section 3 of
Domestic Violence Act defines domestic violence as
under:- “ An act omission or commission on conduct of
the respondent, which harms or injuries or endangers
the health safety, life limb or well being weather
mental or physical of the aggrieved person …., it
includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and
emotional abuse and economic abuse. This new act
provides legal recognition to the problem faced by
millions of women in our country and will lead to
greater awareness of this issue among the judiciary.
The section 4 of the act allows any person to give
information about domestic violence to the police
officer or magistrate or service providers. This
provision is a help, as we know many victims are afraid
to complain and claim their due right at home.
There are many other laws for the weaker sections such
as dalits, SC, ST, bonded labourers to promote and
develop life. Jesus said “I have come that you may have
life, life in all its fullness.” Life is not static and
Art 21 aims to develop human personality in its
fullness giving opportunities to every one.
IS THERE A RIGHT TO DIE?
Suicide has been a burning issue in our country, daily
we hear about farmers committing suicide. Euthanasia is
a debatable topic. Death is a concept negative to life
and therefore both are each others opposite. Hence the
right to life has a special significance. The right can
only imply all those efforts attempts and measures which
help sustain support and sustain life. As per Indian
Penal Code (IPC) one who abets suicide (Section 306) can
be punished with imprisonment for ten years and also
liable to pay fine. Section 309 makes attempt to suicide
also punishable.
It was argued that under Art. 21 of the Indian
constitution right to life also include Right to Die. In
Maruthi Shripathi Dubal Vs State of Maharashtra the
Bombay High Court opined that the right to life
guaranteed by art 21 includes the right to die. It did
not explain as to how even at the level of plain logic
life included death.
In the year 1994 the case of P. Rathinam came up
before the Supreme Court. In this highly controversial
judgment justice B.L. Hansaria invalidated section 309
of I.P.C. saying that it is unconstitutional on the
ground that it violates the Fundamental Right to life.
He further said that it needs to be effaced from the
stature book to humanize our penal laws. Section 309
reads as follows, “whoever attempts to commit suicide
and does any act towards the commission of such offence
shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term
which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.”
Justice B.L. Hansaria thought that it is a cruel
and irrational provision which punishes a person again
(doubly) who has suffered agony and would be undergoing
ignominy because of his failure to commit suicide.
In 1996 another case came before the Supreme Court, and
the controversy was finally resolved in Gian Kaur Vs
State of Punjab. In this case the decision of P.
Rathinam was overruled. And this decision has been the
law of the land till today. It has been stated that
Right to Life under article 21 of the Indian
constitution does not include Right to die or right to
be killed as the very nature of such right is inherently
inconsistent with the right to life. The court
reiterated it’s view in the context of Euthanasia that
the argument to support the views to permitting the
termination of life in such cases to a dying person, who
is terminally ill and is totally dependant on life
support systems by accelerating the process of natural
death, when it was imminent and unavoidable, was not
available to interpret Article 21 to include the right
to curtail the natural span of life.
It would be apt to comment that decriminalization of
suicide and Euthanasia is unworkable in the Indian
perspective even on humanitarian grounds. The Indian
Constitution under article 21 upholds the sanctity of
life till the end. The law does not allow any sort of
unnatural end to human life. Every person is a crown of
beauty in the hand of the Lord, and the state and the
laws exist to protect and promote life at any cost. |
