Serious debate on euthanasia needed: Moily

Mar 07, 2011 |

New Delhi

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M. Veerappa Moily

Government on Monday said a serious debate was needed on the issue of euthanasia as there were no laws at present on it in the country after the Supreme Court rejected a mercy killing petition on behalf of a comatosed woman, a victim of a brutal sexual assault.

"There is no question of concurring or not with the judgement. But in fact, they (Supreme Court) are right that without a law you cannot resort to this kind of a decision with a judicial order," law minister M. Veerappa Moily told reporters here.

A bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra dismissed the plea filed on behalf of KEM hospital nurse Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, who has been in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital for the last 37 years.

Moily said the right to life is a right vested with a person. "Therefore, there is a need for a serious debate into the matter. It has to be examined, it has to be debated upon," he said.

But the law minister, at the same time, agreed that there were a lot of humanitarian points to be looked into and said such petitions cannot be used as "an instrument" to kill somebody.

He pointed that even in the United States, there is no general law to grant such permission expect in two states.

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