Elderly couple from Mumbai had sought euthanasia

Amidst the euthanasia debate, a Mumbai couple had a couple of months ago written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking passive euthanasia.

Narayan Lavate, 88, and Iravati, 78,- who have no children and their siblings are also no more- stay in a tenement in the Girgaum-Charni Road area of south Mumbai.

"We would wait for the response of the President till 31 March....after that we would decide on the future course of action," said Lavate responding to the Supreme Court verdict on passive euthanasia.

On 21 December, the couple had written to the President. "We have decided a long back that we won't like to lie in vegetative state and wait for the death. Instead, we started our fight for right to die," the couple says about their campaign.

Lavate retired as an employee of Maharashtra state road transport corporation in 1989 while his wife Iravati retired as the principal of Aryan education society in 1997.

The couple spoke about Dignitas, a non-profit society in Switzerland that provides assisted suicide provided their wishes are signed off by independent doctors.