All credit and applause to Sanjay Leela Bhansali for making the Indians familiar with the very vital and significant word called ‘euthanasia’ which the Indian law has never got in sunk with. We watched the film ‘Guzaarish’, showered the heartily praises for Hritik as Ethan and the Director who so beautifully portrayed the things on the screen; pondered on the issue for not more than fifteen minutes, clapped and the drama was over. After all, why to get burdened, it was just a film!!!! Right?
Nobody knew that after the country wide appreciation for Guzaarish, a real life ‘Guzaarish’ is on its way to knock the doors of the India’s highest judicial body- The Supreme Court. Aruna Shanbaug, the lady whose plea for euthanasia has been rejected by the SC, 37 years ago was brutally tied with the dog chains and raped which totally damaged her brain nerves and from the past 37 years she cannot hear, speak, walk, communicate or probably do anything which can term her as a ‘human’, the condition being termed as a ‘vegetative state’.
Fifteen minutes are too less for a case like that of Aruna because unlike her, Ethan was at least able to talk and communicate well with his people; then certainly Aruna- the real fighter fighting with God to grant her peace for the past 37 years on bed deserves a better, careful and deep thought of the Indian lawmakers. A country where the millions of patients die without getting any access to treatment and cry for help- the question is that why the people who have no scope to live a life again are forced to live a lifeless life and those who can be saved are plunged into the mouth of death due to the idiotic reasons like shortage of the beds and medical facilities.
Now the next point that arises out of this rarest case is the allowance given to passive euthanasia by the law. Who can argue on the point that the passive euthanasia is better than the active euthanasia? It is the same because in active euthanasia you are intentionally doing an act to kill the person and in the passive euthanasia you are not doing anything to save that person. Rather if we have give it a deep thought, then the passive euthanasia is a bigger violation of humanity because then you are leaving that person to die mercilessly stopping his food, treatment and other life supports. At least in active euthanasia you are instantly putting that person to peace by injecting the drug. So it is a million dollar question as to why the countries like India, US, UK do not consider passive euthanasia as a crime? Or why then they don’t legally approve the active euthanasia? Or why they criminalize the both?
India certainly needs to take one clear stand on euthanasia because it is not the first time that a sensitive case like this has boggled the minds of our lawmakers. In 2008 also Nikita Mehta, demanded the death of her unborn child in the womb who was diagnosed with severe heart blockages and the baby’s birth will be nothing more than a lifelong punishment for the child. The empathetic mother, who demanded a respectful adieu to her baby and faced the dismissal of the petition by the High Court which termed case similar to mercy killing, luckily had a natural miscarriage.
So finally the time has arrived for this nation with 100 crores plus population to take a single and firm stand on euthanasia and go through each and every case minutely keeping in mind its own complexities and the condition of the patient fighting not for life, but for death. Quoting our very own Ethan’s lawyer Devyani Dutta, “If a person has right to live, then he has the equal right to choose not to live.”
