Ghaziabad: The Supreme Court has permitted the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for 31-year-old Harish Rana, who has remained in a permanent vegetative state for more than a decade following a severe brain injury in 2013.
A Bench of Justices J. B. Pardiwala and K. V. Viswanathan allowed a plea filed by Rana’s parents seeking passive euthanasia, noting that his condition had shown no improvement despite years of medical treatment.
Rana, a BTech student in Chandigarh, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in August 2013 after falling from the fourth floor of his paying guest accommodation. Since the incident, he has remained bedridden in what doctors describe as a permanent vegetative state.
Medical reports placed before the court stated that although he exhibits sleep-wake cycles, he has no meaningful interaction with his surroundings. He has been receiving nutrition through a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube and requires constant care for all daily activities.
After more than a decade without neurological recovery, his parents approached the courts seeking permission to withdraw life-sustaining treatment, stating that continued medical intervention was only prolonging his suffering.
The family had earlier moved the Delhi High Court, which declined the request on the ground that Rana was not on mechanical life support. The matter later reached the Supreme Court in 2024.
SC said a medical board will decide withdrawal of treatment under the 2018 Common Cause judgment recognising passive euthanasia.