Samaritans are the one who are charitable and are always show their helping nature. We often encounter the situation that an injured person is lying on the road and hundreds of passers-by just watch or shows / express their pity towards that person & walk away. It will surely pinch your heart if you are imagining yourself or counting yourself amongst those hundreds passers-by. What can be the reason behind not giving aid to that injured person immediately? Why people hesitate to help any injured person who met with an accident?
For all such situations, Good Samaritans Law came into existence which offers legal protection to those who give their best assistance to the person who met with an accident or is injured. The protection is to reduce the hesitation of the public, fear of being sued for unintentional injury or any other awful death.
The Supreme Court on 30th March 2016, approved the guidelines issued by the Centre for the protection of Good Samratians at the hands of the police or any other authority.
It was SafeLIFE Foundation that filled the original PIL & triggered these developments. A bench comprising V. Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra directed the Centre to give wide publicity to the guidelines, which clearly stipulates that people who help victims of road accident or other calamities are not harassed in anyway.
How development flows with time –
- 2012 – PIL filed by SaveLIFE Foundation
- 29th October, 2014 – The Supreme Court directed the Centre to issue the necessary guidelines with regard to the protection of Good Samaritans until appropriate legislation was not made by the Union Legislature.
- 13th May, 2015 – In a gazette notification, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) notified the said guidelines. As per the guidelines, the disclosure of personal information by a Good Samaritan who brings an injured person to the hospital was made voluntary. They also provided that a Good Samaritan would not be liable for any civil or criminal liability.
- 22nd January, 2016 – MoRTH issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the examination of Good Samaritans by the police or during trial.
- 4th March, 2016 – The Supreme Court reserved the judgment making the guidelines and SOPs binding on all states and union territories of India.
- 30th March, 2016 – The Supreme Court approved the guidelines issued by the Centre.
Crux-
The guidelines depicts the following-
- The Good Samaritan will be treated respectfully and without any discrimination on the grounds of gender, religion, nationality and caste.
- Any individual, except an eyewitness, who calls the police to inform them of an accidental injury or death need not reveal his or her personal details such as full name, address or phone number.
- The police will not compel the Good Samaritan to disclose his or her name, identity, address and other such details in the police record form or log register.
- The police will not force any Good Samaritan in procuring information or anything else.
- The police will allow the Good Samaritan to leave after having provided the information available to him or her, and no further questions will be asked of him or her if he or she does not desire to be a witness.
