There is no criminal organ in human body: Kerala High Court

Court sets aside panel’s order that rejected organ donation plea citing criminal antecedents of donor

Observing that there is no “criminal kidney, liver or heart” in the human body, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of the Ernakulam District Level Authorisation Committee for Transplantation of Human Organs that turned down a request for organ transplantation saying that the donor is involved in multiple criminal cases. Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan, while setting aside the order, observed that “there is no difference between the organ of a person without a criminal antecedent or of a person with criminal antecedents. Human blood is passing through all of us.” Allowing a writ petition filed by Radhakrishna Pillai of Kollam, a kidney patient, challenging the order of the committee, the judge pointed out that no provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014, supported the stand of the committee. The intention of the legislature was only to prevent commercial dealings in human organs and tissues.