Combating Organ Trafficking in India

Abstract

In the globalization era, organ trafficking has become quite synonymous with human sacrifice being witnessed by a widespread violation of human rights. Emergence of inherent issues like- the right to life of the patient and the recipient and the right to possess ownership of organs especially in the case of living donors as a dilemma and resolving such till date received mixed scholarly response. Like in other countries, in India too one can witness shortage of supply versus exceeding demand, issue of consenting mechanism with difficulty in pinpointing criminal liability in the criminal chain from donor to recipient lacking adequate data in spite of a enacted legislation like the Organ Transplantation Act, 1994 reflecting thereby the glimpse of an ever expanding illegality of the organ trade. The present doctrinal based research paper basing upon its main Hypothesis –For Legitimizing the Organ Transplant and overcoming socio-economic challenges in India, it is necessary along with public awareness proper coordination between Governments of all levels for fruitful enforcement of law. Thus, in attempting to meet up the present challenges in combating organ trafficking in India following Research Objectives have been formulated- (A) Scope of definitional aspects of organ trafficking, (B) Pointing out the bio-ethical arguments supporting legitimization of organ market, (C) Relevance of organ trafficking in global scenario, (D) Pinpointing the legislative inadequacies and other institutional factors hindering the organ transplantation in India and how to overcome the challenges.