**Harish Rana** was the first person in India to receive court-approved passive euthanasia. He died on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He was 31 years old (32 according to some reports) and had been in a ‘permanent vegetative state’ for more than 13 years after suffering a serious head injury.

In August 2013, when Rana was a BTech student at Panjab University in Chandigarh, he suffered severe brain damage after falling from the fourth floor of his paying-guest residence. He became ‘quadriplegic’ (helpless in all four limbs); Became completely dependent on ‘tracheostomy’ for breathing and ‘percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy’ (PEG) tube for nutrition and hydration. Multiple medical boards confirmed that he had no real chance of recovery.

Rana’s family first approached the Delhi High Court in 2024, pleading to stop the life-saving treatment, but their petition was rejected. After this he reached the Supreme Court. On 11 March 2026, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Vishwanathan’s bench allowed the petition. The bench directed AIIMS to admit Rana for ‘end-of-life care’ and discontinue medically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) in accordance with the guidelines issued in the 2018 case *Common Cause vs Union of India* on passive euthanasia and the right to die with dignity under Article 21.

He was admitted from his home in Ghaziabad on 14-15 March 2026 to AIIMS’s ‘Palliative Care Unit’—which is headed by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital is located in—Moved to. In an emotional farewell video, family members were seen telling him, “It’s time to go, okay?” Artificial life-support was gradually removed under medical supervision and strict protocols.

The case is the first practical application of India’s legal framework for passive euthanasia (whereas ‘active euthanasia’ is still illegal). The incident has once again intensified the national debate on dignity at the end of life, the role of medical boards and the need for a comprehensive law on the subject. For Rana’s family, the case brought a kind of ‘closure’ (peace of mind) after 13 years of devoted care; However, he described the decision as one filled with extreme pain and deep compassion.