Judgment

HANSARIA, J.- Life is said to be the most sublime creation of God. It is this belief and conception which lies at the root of the arguments, and forceful at that, by many religious denominations that human beings cannot take away life, as they cannot give life. This idea is so intense with some religious leaders that they would even oppose any measure of birth control. Abortion or miscarriage would be opposed with greater force by these persons.

2. Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, urged long back in Harijan that God alone can take life because He alone gives it. For the Jains taking away of even animal life is a sin, as, according to them, animals are as much part of God as human beings. Buddhists too preach Ahimsa.

3. Our Rig Veda II recites:

"Grant us a hundred autumns that we may see the manifold world. May we attain the long lives which have been ordained as from yore."

Atharva Veda I contains the following:

"May we be enabled to see the sun for a long time."

The aforesaid shows that life is beyond price and it is not only a legal wrong, but a moral sin as well, to take away life illegally.

4. In the present appeals we are not concerned with taking away of life before it