On March 2016, Supreme Court of India approved guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritan. These guidelines protect the right of bystanders who help any road accident victim.
These guidelines would help to save life of thousands of accident victim who could not get help from bystanders as the bystanders fear the harassment from police and hospital on helping road accident victim.
According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation, in India 1,77,423 people died in road accidents in year 2015. It is believed that majority of them could have been saved had immediate first aid could have been provided to them. Since people fear to be harassed or unnecessarily questioned, they do not come forward to lend help. To protect people so they could lend their help to accident victims, guidelines of Good Samaritan has been laid down.
These guidelines states
- A bystander or Good Samaritan who makes a call to inform police would not been forced to reveal his name.
- In case Good Samaritan is forced to reveal his name then disciplinary action would be taken against the official.
- The Good Samaritan who takes the injured to hospital should be allowed to leave hospital immediately and no question shall be asked to him.
- The Good Samaritan shall be suitably rewarded as per state specification.
- The disclosure of personal information by Good Samaritan shall be made voluntary and optional including in Medico Legal Case (MLC) form by hospital.
