Kerala Law Reforms Commission has presented a proposal, which recommends that euthanasia or mercy killing should be made legal in the state. The proposal also suggests deletion of Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code which holds attempt to suicide as an offence. The panel was headed by retired Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer. 

Euthanasia is defined in the proposal as "deprivation of life by oneself, or by any other person at the insistence of the person whose life is lost, or by medical practitioner doing any act or omission resulting in termination of life." 

The proposal says that if the victim of suffering and his closest relatives, after taking responsible medical opinion about the irrecoverability of pain-free normality, creates the right to euthanasia. Solace compassion, justice and humanism make euthanasia a legally permissible farewell to life in its misery and desperation.

The panel suggested that mercy killing should be carried out with the written sanction of three state-recognized doctors certifying that the patient under consideration is a fit case for euthanasia. 

The panel has made the proposal in the form of a draft bill. The Kerala government may reject the suggestion, or it may pass the bill to the Assembly for approval. The Assembly may or may not pass the bill. 

The recommendations of the panel to legalize mercy killing or euthanasia are direct violation of the right to live guaranteed by the Constitution. 

The court had previously said: “Euthanasia or mercy killing is nothing but homicide whatever the circumstances in which it is effected,” in Naresh Marotrao Sakhre versus Union of India case.

The panel says that no doubt the right to life is of paramount importance. But right to live also means the right to live in dignity, good health, secure medical aid and relief from distress. More than that, it means the right to a life free from escalating pain and suffering whose intensity frustrates the freedom of survival.

Commission says in the proposal that mercy killing could be considered in cases where death is the only salvation and preservation of life would be medically impossible and visited with insufferable physical or mental pain. 

The commission believes that legalizing mercy killing will help freeing a person from shackles of life worse than death. Sometimes incurable medical condition makes life of a person and his near and dear-ones a living hell. Mercy killing should be legalized on humanitarian grounds.