Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide means helping a person to end his/her life at his/her request. Most of the people misunderstand assisted suicide and euthanasia as same. However, there is a marginal difference between assisted suicide and euthanasia. Euthanasia is ending a person’s life to stop his/her suffering without taking acknowledgement of that person. Article 309 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) penalise those who attempt to commit suicide. Article 306 of IPC penalise those who abets someone to commit suicide. Netherlands is the first country to decriminalise assisted suicide in 2002. Assisted suicide contains many technicalities and doctors play a vital role in assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is not a legal right of a citizen but it is a mere discretion of doctors as well as legal framework. Every coin has two sides so as the assisted suicide. For years assisted suicide has been a topic of discussion. Assisted suicide is legal in most of the European countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland etc but in India it is still illegal. Assisted suicide is a vast and controversial topic. India needs to improve its legal framework to have vigilant check before the legalisation of assisted suicide.