Court case(2018) 5 SCC 1

Common Cause, a public interest society, filed a petition under Article 32 in 2005 seeking a declaration that the right to die with dignity is part of the right to live with dignity under Article 21, and that a person of sound mind may execute an advance directive refusing life-prolonging treatment if he later falls into a terminal or vegetative state. In Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011) a two-judge Bench had allowed passive euthanasia under court supervision, while Gian Kaur (1996) had held that the right to life does not include a right to die. A three-judge Bench referred the matter to a Constitution Bench in 2014.

In four concurring opinions the Constitution Bench held that the right to die with dignity is an intrinsic facet of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. A terminally ill person, or a person in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery, may have life support withdrawn (passive euthanasia), and a competent adult may execute an advance medical directive or living will to that effect. The Court distinguished Gian Kaur as having rejected only a right to commit suicide, not the right to a dignified death. Detailed guidelines were laid down on executing, recording and giving effect to advance directives through medical boards, to operate until Parliament legislates. These were simplified by a further Constitution Bench order in January 2023.