Importance of Good Samaritan Law

The Good Samaritan Law is a legal principle that indemnifies a ‘rescuer’ who has voluntarily helped a victim in distress from being sued for ‘wrongdoing’. Its purpose is to keep people from being reluctant to help a stranger in need for fear of legal repercussions in the event that they made some mistake while rendering assistance. It is worth helping out a road accident victim to give one a certain sense of accomplishment and peace of mind. Every year Road Safety Week is celebrated to make society aware about road safety and reaffirm our own responsibility.

However, in spite of our best efforts, road accidents are common in India.

It is found that every 12 minutes, an Indian dies on the road and ten times that number get injured. That a majority of accident victims are found to succumb in the absence of prompt medical assistance, is a fact we tend to overlook. It is really hard to believe that people who are otherwise rational and caring do not always come forward to assist victims of road accidents.

Go to hospitals, there are umpteen cases where the victim is not given prompt medical attention. But why is this so? Over the years people have hesitated to involve themselves with helping people in peril, for fear of being sued.

The fear of police harassment often plays strongly in the minds of bystanders preventing them from helping a road accident victim. Truth to tell, this perception is not wholly without basis. It is even more detrimental when doctors and medical institutions, wait for police investigations to be over before the patient is treated.

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The question is, how should society move against this. Let’s first consider the legal provisions. In the case of Pt Paramanand Katara vs Unionof India in 1989, the Supreme Court observed that treatment of the accident victim should not wait for the arrival of the police and completion of legalities.

Failure on the part of any govt hospital to attend to such patients is a violation of “Right to Life” guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Moreover, in 1994, Section 134was added to the Motor Vehicles Act1988 (MVA) to cover the exigency of prompt medical attention to be given by medical institutions or doctors to accident victims without waiting for procedural formalities and fear of police harassment. Significantly, failure in this regard is punishable under Section 187 of MVA. CUTS. Safety Watch has taken up a campaign to popularise the idea of being Good Samaritans based on the above facts.

It has successfully brought relevant government departments, police departments, and media and civil society organisations in the loop to strengthen the movement. The Film/TV industry often helps build misconception and thus is the next target of the CUTS campaign. A further chip to this movement would be to convince our government to ensure safeguard provisions for bystanders who are willing to help accident victims. We can draw examples from ‘Good Samaritan’ Laws that exist in some of the developed countries, that safeguard the person from liability of civil damages other than gross negligence, in case of emergency or medical services.