Hari Sharada, the first person in India to be granted permission for passive euthanasia by the Supreme Court, passed away on Tuesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi — ending a 13-year vigil during which he had remained in a coma, sustained entirely by life support systems.

Sharada, 31, was a B.Tech student at Punjab University when his life changed irrevocably in 2013 after he fell from the fourth floor of a building and suffered a severe head injury, leaving him permanently unconscious. For over a decade, he survived on artificial nutrition and intermittent oxygen support, with no recovery in sight.

On March 11, the Supreme Court granted passive euthanasia in what became a landmark decision in Indian medical and constitutional history. Sharada was admitted to the Palliative Care Unit of Dr B R Ambedkar Institute of Cardiology Cancer Hospital in Delhi on March 14, three days after the order. Under Supreme Court directions, AIIMS was tasked with withdrawing life support in a planned, dignified manner. A specialised medical team led by Dr C M Mishra — comprising specialists in neurosurgery, onco-anaesthesia, and paediatrics — oversaw the process, gradually reducing nutritional support before the final withdrawal of the life support system.