Harish Rana was comatose and bedridden for over a decade. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that his ‘endless misery’ can finally end
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenBiman MukherjiPublished: 8:23pm, 13 Mar 2026India’s Supreme Court has allowed the parents of a 31-year-old man to withdraw life-sustaining treatment after more than a decade in a vegetative state, a ruling experts say could shape how the country implements its legal framework for passive euthanasia.The decision in the case of Harish Rana is widely seen as one of the clearest real-world applications of the principle that patients have a right to die with dignity under India’s constitution.
Rana, an engineering student, had been in a vegetative state for the last 13 years after falling from the fourth floor of his hostel in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
After emergency treatment, doctors declared him a quadriplegic.
Bedridden and dependent on feeding tubes for survival, his mother Nirmala and father Ashok became his primary carers.
A high court in New Delhi denied the couple permission to withdraw life support in 2024, prompting them to seek legal recourse from the Supreme Court.
