Overview
- Kumari Chandrakanta Jethani formally petitioned President Draupadi Murmu on July 24, requesting consent to end her life through euthanasia after years of chronic paralysis.
- She continues to teach for seven to eight hours daily from a wheelchair while enduring excruciating pain she attributes to wrong medication during a hospital stay and subsequent hardship at an ashram.
- The president’s office and relevant authorities are reviewing her request amid a legal framework that allows only passive euthanasia under narrow Supreme Court guidelines.
- Despite her suffering, Jethani has donated her property to the government school’s children and pledged her body and organs to MGM Medical College.
- Her unprecedented appeal is driving renewed calls for a national discussion on India’s ethical and legal standards for assisted dying.