Thomas Master, who had fought a losing legal battle for the right to end his life, committed suicide here on Wednesday. He was 85.On June 28, 2000, the division bench of Kerala High Court had rejected the petition of Thomas, a retired school headmaster of Pavaratty, seeking the right for each individual to choose the place and method of his death. Thomas was found hanging from a hook in his house late on Wednesday.According to family sources, when Thomas committed suicide, only his wife, who is also a retired teacher, was present in the house.He is survived by wife Eliamma, daughter Geetha and son Dr Sathyan. The body was buried at the cemetery of St Joseph’s church after postmortem this afternoon.Thomas, who served as headmaster of AM LP School where his daughter teaches now, had approached the court with a petition that he did not want to wait to die till his body gave way to diseases. In the petition, he said his family members were well-settled and he enjoyed good health. He also said that he liked playing the harmonica.‘‘All my duties in life have been fulfilled. However, as a law-abiding citizen, I don’t want to commit suicide. I want to voluntarily put an end to my life and donate my organs,’’ his petition read.‘‘Freedom to choose the method of one’s death is part of the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution,’’ it added.In 2000, the division bench of Kerala HC had held that all artificial death, be it voluntary or involuntary, should be construed as suicide that is disallowed by law.
