Overview
- This week the elderly Gehlot couple formally wrote to the Surat district collector asking for permission for euthanasia and several outlets report the collector's office has reportedly accepted the application though no official confirmation has been published.
- The couple say they bought multiple small shops in 2006 and that the properties were first sealed in 2021, reopened after a court route and a fire-department finding on January 31, 2026, and were sealed again on May 30, 2026.
- Surat Municipal Corporation executive engineer Bhairav Desai says the 11 shops were sealed because they must be regularised under the Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act (GRUDA), 2022 and the owners have not submitted required documents or paid impact fees.
- The Gehlots say rental income from the shops was their only livelihood after nine members of their family died in a 2016 accident, and they allege repeated administrative action and pressure from local political figures has left them financially and emotionally devastated.
- The case now raises two clear next steps to watch: whether the collector issues any formal decision on the mercy‑death request and whether officials open a separate administrative or judicial probe into the sealing, GRUDA compliance and the couple's allegations of coercion.