Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India on 26 September, 2018 101) This concept of dignity took a leap forwarded in the case of Common Cause v. Union of India37 pertaining to passive euthanasia. Though this right was earlier recognised in Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug v. Union of India & Ors.38, a totally new dimension was given to this right, based on freedom of choice 37 (2018) 5 SCC 1 38 (2011) 4 SCC 454 which is to be given to an individual accepting his dignity. There were four concurring opinions. In one of the opinions 39, the aspects of dignity are succinctly brought out in the following manner: 154. Dignity of an individual has been internationally recognised as an important facet of human rights in the year 1948 itself with the enactment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human dignity not only finds place in the Preamble of this important document but also in Article 1 of the same. It is well known that the principles set out in UDHR are of paramount importance and are given utmost weightage while interpreting human rights all over the world. The first and foremost responsibility fixed upon the State is the protection of human dignity without which any other right would fall apart. Justice Brennan in his book The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification has referred to the Constitution as a sparkling vision of the supremacy of the human dignity of every individual. 155. In fact, in Christine Goodwin v. United Kingdom the European Court of Human Rights, speaking in the context of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, has gone to the extent of stating that the very essence of the Convention is respect for human dignity and human freedom. In the South African case of S. v. Makwanyane, ORegan, J. stated in the Constitutional Court that without dignity, human life is substantially diminished. xx xx xx 157. The concept and value of dignity requires further elaboration since we are treating it as an inextricable facet of right to life that respects all human rights that a person enjoys. Life is basically self-assertion. In the life of a person, conflict and dilemma are expected to be normal phenomena. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in one of his addresses, quoted a line from a Latin poet who had uttered the message, Death plucks my ear and says, LiveI am coming. That is the significance of living. But when a 39 Rendered by Dipak Misra, CJI patient really does not know if he/she is living till death visits him/her and there is constant suffering without any hope of living, should one be allowed to wait? Should she/he be cursed to die as life gradually ebbs out from her/his being? Should she/he live because of innovative medical technology or, for that matter, should he/she continue to live with the support system as people around him/her think that science in its progressive invention may bring about an innovative method of cure? To put it differently, should he/she be Guinea pig for some kind of experiment? The answer has to be an emphatic No because such futile waiting mars the pristine concept of life, corrodes the essence of dignity and erodes the fact of eventual choice which is pivotal to privacy. Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/127517806/ 95