(1.) BY this petition, the petitioner has prayed as under :-
(2.) THE petitioner had filed this petition on 22.1.1999. At that time, he had been aged 74 years and as per para 1, the petitioners is and has been in a tolerably good health, for his age. He takes active part in the Senior Citizens Club and Live Well - Leave Well Society in Bangalore of which he is a member. His children are well settled. Financially, he and his wife have a comfortable living. In paragraph No. 2, it has been stated that as long as the going is good, he is living well. Since living well goes hand in hand with leaving well, the petitioner strongly feels that he must be prepared to face death by perfecting the process of hastening it, when he is terminally ill. This trauma, this tragedy may fall any time, any day. Looking for a doctor at that stage makes dying worse. Because of the blind faith in the outdated Hippocratic Oath, the Physicians tend to continue heroic efforts, thereby delaying the end and prolonging the misery and agony of the dying person. This entails wasteful financial burden on and mental distress to the family members. Any attempt to save life which has already started ebbing out is fruitless, futile and frustrating in the face of the overpowering tide of certain and imminent death. To overcome such a hopeless situation, as described in the foregoing paragraphs, the petitioner has executed a Living Will (advance directive), a copy of which is produced as Annexure-'A' expressing his wish that :
(3.) THE learned counsel for the petitioner has argued the petition with utmost vehemence, in order to seek the relief sought for in the writ petition. The learned counsel's contention is that right to life includes right to die with honour. The learned counsel for the petitioner, in course of his arguments, tried to place reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of P. Rathinam v. Union of India, AIR 1994 SC 1844.