Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Aug 11: “I am suffering from an incurable ailment, slip disc, since over a decade. I do not want to commit suicide like a coward. I want to die honourably. Please permit me to end my life through euthanasia,” is the request the state High Court has received, from a 70-year-old woman from Davangere.

H B Karibasamma, a retired teacher, has requested the state High Court, to grant her exemption from the provisions of section 306 and 307 of Indian Penal Code, which have banned euthanasia. Justice Ajit Gunjal caused issuance of notice to the central and state governments on Tuesday August 10, relating to the petition.

Karibasamma has been living in Ananda Dharma Vriddhashram, a home for the aged, in Davangere. She says she has been frustrated to no end due to the excruciating pain she suffers because of the slip disc since the last about 11 years. “I receive a monthly pension of Rs 8,968, which is insufficient to meet my medical needs. I do not have any relatives to look after me. The doctors are not sure if spending money on my health will improve my condition or not. I had moved an application for euthanasia in 2003, which has passed through several offices and reached the office of the Prime Minister. I have no information on its fate. As such, I have approached you for necessary permission,” she has said in the petition.

Karibasamma has also expressed desire to donate her body after her death, to Davangere Medical College for research. Noting that some countries like Netherlands, USA, Belgium etc, have specific laws covering euthanasia, she has requested the court to apply these provisions in her case.

This is the first such petition before the state High Court. It may be recalled that a petition preferred by journalist, Pinki Virani, in December 2009, seeking permission for the mercy killing of Aruna Shanbhag, a Mumbai-based nurse, who has been a virtual vegetable since being subjected to mass rape in 1973, is pending before the Supreme Court.