“Death is Peaceful; Life is Harder.” This quote by Stephenie Meyer compels one to imagine the misery and pain of a person who wishes to leave for the heavenly abode due to certain compulsive circumstances. The sanctity of human life does not entail the continuance of one’s existence in agony and suffering as a result of one’s actions. Given that everyone has the right to live a dignified life. Here few questions arise ‘What is a dignified Life?’ Whether a person who is not able to live a dignified life has a right to die in a dignified manner? Whether right to die with dignity is recognised as a fundamental right in India? Can a person be forced to live in a way that is detrimental to his or her well-being?
This paper explores the concept of death with dignity through a jurisprudential and legal angle. Leading Judgments centred on the issue of life and death such as the Gian Kaur case, Aruna Shanbaug case, and Common Cause (A Registered Society) case are converse to have a better glance of concern associated with death with dignity.
