Moreover, it is more viable to allow a seriously sick person to die peacefully than to improperly demand him to live in pain and agony. Right to life includes right to die with dignity till the end of natural life, and therefore by corollary, right to life would incorporate right to die with dignity till the end of life and should not be curtailed by the arguments relying on it being unnatural death.
III. POSITION OF INDIA VIS-À-VIS NATIONS OF CONSEQUENCE
Historically, various countries following common law doctrine listed the act of suicide as a felony, but these policies were sparsely enforced. Attempted suicide has been long regarded as punishable in some way, for the reason that suicide was a felony and an attempt to commit a felony is
…show more content…
RECOMMENDATIONS
The contention was raised in the Gian Kaur Case that treating different circumstances of attempt to suicide by the same measure (Section 309) is violative of Article 14. The Court held that the section ‘cannot be regarded as violative of Article 14, inasmuch as the nature, gravity and extent of attempt may be taken care of by tailoring the sentence appropriately.’ The Court further observed that Section 309 gave a maximum punishment of one year. The Court thus maintained that the those booked under Section 309 were provided adequate compassion via the provision of probation under the Criminal Procedure Code.
However, the argument against this supposedly infallible contention was provided by the Law Commission in its 2008 Report. It points out that the continued prevalence of this section is proving to be counterproductive to the cause of preventing suicide in India. Those who fail to succeed in committing suicide do not seek medical assistance due to the fear of being arrested and penalized. In fact, the Commission recognizes that a suicide is a “cry for help”. And those who attempt suicide need extensive and prolonged psycho-social care, and a decriminalization of the draconian legislation will not lead to an increase in mortality