Euthanasia has always been in glare of publicity and as a subject of debate in the field of medicine and law. It is one of the most baffling issue which the world face today when it comes to the life of a patient with terminal illness and acute pain, who is in a vegetate state and cannot support life with dignity. Severely handicapped or terminally ill people are supposed to have the right to choose between life and death. Euthanasia has been much debated subject throughout the world and India entered into the arena for debate since the case of Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug (a junior nurse at King Edward Hospital, Parel, Mumbai) who was sexually assaulted by a ward boy in the evening of Nov 27, 1973. The present study provides the case of some countries which have enacted legislations to euthanasia, among these handful of countries Netherlands was the first to start the practice of euthanasia and later was joined by Canada, Columbia, Belgium, Luxemburg and the state of Oregon in USA. India also joined these countries which have already legalized mercy killing in some form or other, so far India is concerned ‘Passive Euthanasia’ is legalized by Supreme Court’s two judge bench on 7th March 2011. Varied forms of euthanasia has been highlighted in the present research paper, the most prominent among them include Active and Passive, Voluntary and NonVoluntary euthanasia. In the current study an attempt was made to explore the arguments in favour and the arguments against euthanasia and an account of euthanasia and the position of life in Islam is also explored. The research method used for the accumulation and analysation of data in the current study is Descriptive/ Ex post facto method. Finally an attempt was made to see the possibilities by which euthanasia can be avoided to a large extent while taking into consideration the ethical code of humanity
