At 76, Vinayak Kelkar is fit as a fiddle. He feels fortunate that none of the common ailments associated with salt, sugar or age have afflicted him so far; he can comfortably spend time playing bridge with his peers, attend social gatherings and invest about two and a half hours everyday to brisk walks and "contemplative" yoga sessions, without experiencing burnout. Family time is when he revels in the company of his children and grandchildren, and reminisce stories of his own past. Yet, of late, Kelkar, a mechanical engineer and retired professor, has been obsessing about the nature of death, its unpredictability and specifically about how he can claim his own "right to die"—in other words, practise active euthanasia.
Accordingly, he framed a 14-page draft legislation demanding that those who are over the age of 45, and in sound health—that is, they suffer neither from an infirmity of the mind nor of the body—be given the right to determine the time and manner of their own death. This was in response to the Supreme Court's judgment early this year (March 7, 2018) which legalised passive euthanasia in India, by means of the withdrawal of life support to terminally ill patients or those in a permanent vegetative state.
Kelkar questions the scope of the ruling. Why is it that euthanasia is reserved only for terminally ill patients and not for common people who may be of sound health, but may want to end their lives? Since every individual has a right to life and personal integrity, it should be his or her sole decision when he/she would like to leave the world, and how. Kelkar argues in favour of active or voluntary euthanasia and also says that it will help in timely organ donation, which, in turn, will save many other lives. Euthanasia literally means 'bringing about death peacefully to ease suffering, specifically in cases of disabled or terminally ill patients'. While in a number of countries, including India, active euthanasia is illegal, countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, and a few others, have assisted suicide laws which allow citizens to opt for voluntary euthanasia, as had happened in case of 104-year-old Australian scientist David Goodall who travelled to Switzerland to legally commit suicide which was planned to be with a poisonous injection. As per reports, Goodall was reported saying, "one should be free to choose death, when death is at an appropriate time."
However, Kelkar makes it a point to clarify the provisions to prevent misuse, in his draft. Every individual must be very well counselled before he is given the permission to carry out active euthanasia, and there must be a certain specific administrative and judicial set up that will look into each case for its merits, he says. "Nobody will be allowed to kill himself or herself under duress, or under pressure or because of ill-informed or misplaced or temporary frustration."
The septuagenarian sent his draft ‘Purposeful life and Comprehensive Euthanasia law', to one and all in the corridors of power, right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, various members of parliament and legislative assemblies, and also to chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, whose office promptly acknowledged the receipt of his letter. "An individual is the owner/master of his own body, including all its organs while alive and after death. This has already been accepted by our society and law in practice. Now what is needed is to accept this ethically and legally. Our most fundamental of all rights, the right to life does not mean a duty to live and includes by extension right not to live. Moreover, Why can't I die when I'm happy? When I feel my purpose in life is solved? Why should I wait for some grave affliction to strike me that will lead me to death? I want the right to choose the time and place of my own death."
About a fortnight back, which was barely a few days after the death of noted poet-lyricist and Padma Bhushan awardee Gopal Das 'Neeraj,' administrative officials admitted that the poet pleaded with the Aligarh district magistrate to consider a plea for euthanasia a week before his death. "I have come to know that recently Supreme Court permitted euthanasia for those turning disabled because of body pain. My body and my health are now good for nothing and thus my own body has turned (out) to be a burden for me. As such I want to ‘free’ myself from it,” stated Neeraj in the letter. There is no doubt that those who undergo incurable or life threatening diseases must be given the option of passive euthanasia, says V.S.Mehta, a practicing neurosurgeon and an ex-chief of Neurosciences Centre at AIIMS in New Delhi. "But for those who are healthy and moving, and simply want to end their life just so as to avoid some future immobility or ill health, must be evaluated by a psychiatrist because theirs is a personality problem. To even think of such options as killing oneself as and when one pleases, after a certain age, is simply ridiculous and must not be encouraged."