Legal Rulings on Suicide in India and Implications for the Right to Die

Abstract

In this paper I am concerned to address the question of voluntary or self-willed death from two distinct positions—a particular community's socio-religious practice (viz, Jaina sallekhanā) and as the matter stands in law (penal code, constitution, judicial wisdom, etc.) in India—in the light of the recent move by a bench of its apex court striking down the penal code section proscribing suicide. I also wish to draw out some implications of these deliberations for the beneficence of medical practice and related bio-ethical ramifications in the Indian context. © 1995, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.