Published Paper Details:

Abstract Euthanasia -the deliberate ending of a person's life to relieve suffering -remains one of the most doctrinally unsettled areas of Indian constitutional law. In the continued absence of dedicated legislation, the contours of the right to die have been shaped almost entirely through a sequence of Supreme Court decisions stretching from P. Rathinam v. Union of India in 1994 to Harish Rana v. Union of India in 2026. This paper traces that judicial trajectory, examines the constitutional reasoning underlying the recognition of passive euthanasia and the living will, and evaluates the procedural reforms introduced by the 2023 modification of the Common Cause guidelines. It argues that Indian judicial trends reveal a cautious, incremental expansion of the right to die with dignity, marked by a persistent unwillingness to permit active euthanasia and a growing recognition that excessive procedural safeguards can themselves defeat the very dignity interest that Article 21 protects.