Supreme Court Permits Withdrawal of Life Support for Harish Rana After 13-Year Medical Battle
The Supreme Court of India allowed the parents of Harish Rana, who had been in a vegetative state for nearly 13 years, to withdraw his life support.
In a deeply emotional case, the Supreme Court of India allowed the parents of Harish Rana to withdraw his life support after he spent nearly 13 years in a vegetative state.
Harish Rana, now 32, was once an engineering student at Panjab University in Chandigarh. In August 2013, when he was about 19, he fell from the fourth-floor balcony of the building where he was staying as a paying guest. The fall caused severe head injuries and left him unconscious.
Since then, Rana has been in a permanent vegetative state. Doctors say he is alive but completely unaware of the world around him. He cannot speak, see, hear or recognise anyone. For years he has survived only with medical support, breathing through a tube and receiving food through another tube connected to his stomach.
His parents cared for him at home for many years. Reports say they even sold their house in Delhi and moved to Ghaziabad to manage medical expenses and stay closer to hospitals.
In India, the Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia in 2011. This means doctors can withdraw life-support treatment in certain cases where there is no chance of recovery. However, active euthanasia, where a doctor deliberately ends a patient’s life, is still illegal.
Rana’s parents first approached the Delhi High Court in 2024, but their request was rejected. They then moved the Supreme Court. After reviewing medical reports and meeting the family, the court finally allowed doctors to withdraw life-sustaining equipment.
On 11 March 2026, Justice J.B. Pardiwala became emotional while addressing the parents. He said, “You are not giving up on your son. You are allowing him to live with dignity.”
Rana will now be shifted to a care centre at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, where doctors will carefully carry out the process.
This is one of the rare cases in India where the Supreme Court has permitted euthanasia.
