Supreme Court’s Verdict On Helping Road Accident VictimsThe Apex court has passed on an unprecedented judgment on a very important and vital matter pertaining to the guidelines on the road accidents happening in the country. The Supreme Court has clearly defined the guidelines for those who help the victims of road accident. All the authorities including the Police department and the Hospitals are now hereby abiding by the ruling of the Supreme Court.
The Apex Court of India has safeguarded the rights of those who are helping the unfortunate victims of any sort of road accident. Now, one can help the victims without thinking twice before doing it, no agency including Police can force you to reveal your identity; neither the hospital can ask you to deposit any money on behalf of the victim’s admission.
Guidelines in favor of those helping hands in the time of crisis include:
1. Those who are registering the complaint or reporting the accident cannot be compelled to reveal their names (neither to Police nor to Hospital).
2. The Police cannot make you witness without your will or consent (they simply cannot force you to become the witness whatsoever).
3. Those who are helping the victim of accident won’t go through the tough and lengthy judicial process.
4. If the willful witness is unable to come for the hearing, he/she would be provided with the facility of Teleconferencing.
5. If a doctor refuses to treat the victim, he/she will be considered as guilty of “Professional Misconduct”.
6. Hospitals cannot ask any money to those who are helping the victim in the name of advance deposition for the treatment of the victim.
7. Those Hospitals which are not abiding these guidelines shall be penalized by their respective state Governments.
According to a report came in 2013, in India 3 out of 4 do not help the victims of the road accident, 88% people hesitate to help the road accident victims because they don’t want to get into the hassles of Police or judiciary. Around 77% people of our country avoid helping the victims because they don’t want to get into the trouble of Hospital formalities. On an average there are 56 road accidents reported in our country every hour and out of which 16 people looses their lives. According to NCRB in year 2014 only there were 1’69’107 people lost their lives in road accidents in our country. 2. The Police cannot make you witness without your will or consent (they simply cannot force you to become the witness whatsoever).
3. Those who are helping the victim of accident won’t go through the tough and lengthy judicial process.
4. If the willful witness is unable to come for the hearing, he/she would be provided with the facility of Teleconferencing.
5. If a doctor refuses to treat the victim, he/she will be considered as guilty of “Professional Misconduct”.
6. Hospitals cannot ask any money to those who are helping the victim in the name of advance deposition for the treatment of the victim.
7. Those Hospitals which are not abiding these guidelines shall be penalized by their respective state Governments.
These guidelines will certainly be proven as milestone for our society and will encourage our countrymen to do good deeds for those who are unfortunate and trapped in a situation where they cannot help themselves. This will surely motivate our brothers and sisters to help the victims of road accidents and will certainly save many lives which otherwise would not make it because of persisting hassles related to the road accidents in our country.
Please share this as much as you can because as a responsible citizen of our country and fellow bikers this is our duty. Who knows the awareness comes through this information could one day save your life or the lives of your loved ones.
By: Farhan Kashif