Ending Legal Hassles For Those Helping Accident Victims-Can Save Lives!

As reported in the TOI on Oct 30th 2014, the Supereme Court on 29th of October has asked the government to issue an order within three months to insulate from legal and procedural hassles those who come to the aid of road-accident victims – this is welcome news.
India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of road falatlities in the world , further nearly 20 lac people were injured in road accidents.
Fear of harassment at the hands of the police and the slow pace of judicial system often dicourages witnesses from reporting accidents and taking victims to the hospital.There is no provision in the law to insulate such people from the prolonged legal formalities. This all results in the accident victims not getting medical assistance within the golden hour – a major cause of fatalities.
We are sure that with this order, good citizens will be encouraged to rush the victims to the nearest hospital without the fear of being embroiled in long legal proceedings.

Dear Mr.Akshay,

Thanks for ringing the issue in this thread. As you sai the rate of road accidents are more in India as compared to the statistics of world . The legislation and enforcement of law is very poor in India. The victims are to wait years together to get the justice from the court of law and tribunals. As you said correctly our citizens also afraiding from the clutches of police or investigating officer to come out with the facts of road accidents as a eye witnesses. Examples are there very rare people to come to help the victims who seek the medical reliefs from the spot and as a result many victims have the chances to loose their lives. All the motor vehicles road accidents are charged under IPC sec.279 and ..... for rash and negligent driving of the vehicle whatever may be the type of accident including fatal. Due to lack of eye witnesses most of the criminal cases the accused shall e acquitted without any punishment. The criminal case shall be closed. As far as tribunals the victims or their family members who are seeking for the compensation in the tribunal which will takes years and in some cases they will loose the interest in getting the compensation.

Let us wait and see the implication of Supreme Court Order.

Adoni Suguresh

Labour Laws Consultant