Eight members of Gujarat family seek Governor’s permission for mercy killing, here’s why

In a letter to the Governor of Gujarat, eight members of a family from the Morbi district have requested permission to end their lives via euthanasia. The Parmar family has written to Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat seeking permission for euthanasia. 

Euthanasia is also known as mercy killing or assisted suicide. It refers to the act of ending one’s life to alleviate pain or suffering. In the case of the Gujarat family, they lost their patriarch and have alleged harassment, torture and threat which has led them to seek the shocking permission from authorities. Here is their story.

Why Gujarat’s Parmar family seeks mercy killing?

The Parmars claim that their head of family Jayant Parmar resorted to committing suicide last month. He took the step due to being “harassed, tortured and threatened” by private financiers over repayment of borrowed money, the family alleges. They have also accused the police of laxity, alleging that the case of the patriarch’s alleged suicide was not investigated properly.

In a letter written to Governor Devvrat, Jayant Parmar’s son Gopal has said that the family has nothing to live for and, hence, has sought permission for euthanasia. He has alleged that his father Jayant had borrowed money from seven seven private financiers. The Parmar family patriarch had then sold his house, agricultural land and ornaments to repay the financiers. However, they kept pressuring him to pay more money, the son claimed in the letter. He said that his father had ended his life in December 2022 by jumping before a tractor. Gopal added in the letter that Jayant Parmar had named the seven financiers in his suicide not but no action was taken by the police. 

On the other hand, the investigating officer in the case, MV Patel, has said that the alleged suicide note was not found on the site of suicide which is why the case was intially treated as accidental death. However, the family members gave the suicide note to the police after a few days. Police is trying to verify if the suicide not is genuine, he added. 

The said suicide note does not contain any details of the money in question but only names the financiers. “Without concrete evidence, we can’t touch anyone. We have assured the deceased person’s family that no one will harass them or demand repayment of money from them,” the investigating officer added.

(With inputs from IANS)