Ritual Death in a Secular State: The Jain Practice of Sallekhana

Introduction to Sallekhana and the Legal Challenge

  • Sallekhana (also known as santhara, samadhimaran, or panditamarana) - A Jain practice of ritual voluntary death involving the progressive renunciation of food and water until life ebbs away, enjoined by ancient Jain texts under specific circumstances.

  • In 2015, the Rajasthan High Court criminalized Sallekhana, ruling that the state was obligated to abolish it and register criminal cases under sections 309 (attempt to commit suicide) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against anyone practicing or abetting it.

  • The judgment was the culmination of a nearly decade-long case.

  • This paper examines the anxieties framing the debate on both sides: the lawsuit and court's response, and the Jain community's defense against perceived loss of faith.

  • It questions what happens when piety and belief are brought into the courtroom, seeking denunciation or validation from modern, rational law.

  • The paper also scrutinizes colonial attitudes to Sallekhana to assess if the High Court's judgment is a result of the Christian/colonial legal legacy, which historically outlawed suicide.

Sallekhana Framed as a Social Evil

  • Statistics on Sallekhana: Reliable statistics are scarce, but community journals often publicize cases.

    • Billimoria (1992) estimated 5 to 10 cases annually, acknowledging potential underreporting.

    • Babulal Jain Ujjwal recorded an average of 550 Santharas in 2009 and 465 in 2008.

    • Baya, based on a sample of 350 cases between January 1994 and December 2003, extrapolated an average of 20 voluntary deaths per month, or 240 per year, calling it a conservative estimate.

  • Gender and Sectarian Differences: Data is not fully gender-disaggregated, but public announcements confirm both men and women undertake the vow.

    • Baya’s sample shows that among Digambars, more men (46% monks, 1% lay men) undertake Sallekhana than women (39% nuns, 0.6% lay women).

    • Among Shvetambars, lay followers overwhelmingly lead in undertaking the practice.

  • Allegations of Social Evil: Gossip suggests women outnumber men, and that Sallekhana is a patriarchal tool to eliminate women past their usefulness or to deprive them of property rights. This framing contributed to identifying Sallekhana with Sati.

  • Nikhil Soni's Petition: The Jaipur lawyer's Public Interest Litigation (PIL) sought criminalization, prominently invoking judicial memory of Sati.

    • Soni's petition used the language and formulation of Sati prevention laws (promulgated after the 1987 Roop Kanwar burning in Rajasthan), which criminalized not only the act of Sati but also its glorification.

    • He emphasized the ceremonial nature of Sallekhana and community participation as