savelife foundation and; anr vs union of india and anr

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WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO(S). 235 OF 2012

SUSHMA SOSHA PHILIP

Savelife Foundation & Anr v. Union Of India & Anr



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Who is a Good Samaritan?• The term originated from a parable in the Bible about a man

from Samaria helping a wounded stranger lying on the roadside with no regard to his own safety or reputation;

• In common parlance it refers to individuals who do selfless good deeds for others, especially with regard to assisting road traffic accident victims;



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• Many a time, these individuals, instead of being commended for their efforts, end up getting dragged into court as witnesses or even suspects and harassed by police officers;

• For this reason many people hesitate to assist road accident victims;

• The Law Commission of India observed that as many as 50% of road accident victims could be saved by bystander assistance;

• A World Health Organization report claims that “skilled and empowered bystanders play a crucial role in saving lives” and “in order to enable bystanders to come forward and help injured persons, a supportive legal and ethical environment is needed”;



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Reason for the PIL:• SaveLIFE Foundation is a non-profit NGO aiming at creating a network of

medical responders to come to the victims’ aid. It has been actively involved in criticizing and improving road safety regulations in India;

• SaveLIFE Foundation filed a PIL on the basis of a national study conducted by it, which revealed that three out of four people in India hesitate to come forward to help road accident victims;

• The study also revealed that 88% of them had hesitated due to fear of legal and procedural hassles;

• SaveLIFE Foundation felt the need to move the Court to lay down protective guidelines for the witnesses and by-standers in road accidents so as to bring about a change in their attitude regarding granting of assistance.



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WEBSITEwww.altacit.com Piyush Tewari – Founder SaveLIFE



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FACTS OF THE CASE:

• This petition was filed in public interest (PIL) under Article 32, before the Supreme Court;

• Our Constitution contains a powerful tool by way of the Article 32 which, among other things, allows the public to directly approach the SC for orders or directions in cases concerning public interest. This form of litigation is known as Public Interest Litigation.

• The petition was filed in 2012 for the development of a supportive legal framework to protect Samaritans – ie., by-standers and passers-by who render help to road accident victims.



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Kiron Kher, BJP MP and actress and Piyush Tewari with signed petitions for the Good Samaritan Guidelines



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Decision and Development of the Guidelines:• The Supreme Court in this case gave a landmark ruling on

March 4 stating that it would pass an order on the recommendations of a 3-member committee;

• The committee made 12 major recommendations regarding the issue of road safety;

• The importance of the Supreme Court granting legislative backing to the guidelines is that this assuages the Centre’s long-time complaint that it is difficult to enforce guidelines without statutory backing;



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Timeline:

• On Oct 29th, 2014 the SC directed the Centre to issue necessary guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritans till appropriate legislation was made by the Union Legislature;

• On May 13th, 2015 the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notified these guidelines;

• On January 22nd, 2016 the MoRH issued Standard Operating Procedures for the examination of Good Samaritans;

• On March 30th, 2016, the SC approved the guidelines issued by the Centre.



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Guidelines:

• 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.



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• If a Good Samaritan chooses to be a witness, she will be examined with utmost care and respect.

• The examination will be conducted at a time and place of the Good Samaritan’s convenience and the investigation officer will be dressed in plain clothes.

• If the Good Samaritan is required by the investigation officer to visit the police station, the reasons for the requirement shall be recorded by the officer in writing.

• In a police station, the Good Samaritan will be examined in a single examination in a reasonable and time-bound manner, without causing any undue delay.

• If a Good Samaritan declares himself to be an eyewitness, she will be allowed to give her evidence in the form of an affidavit.

• The concerned Superintendent/ Deputy Commissioner of Police is responsible for ensuring that all the above-mentioned procedures are implemented throughout their jurisdictions.



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Summary:



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2015 Graph showing the incidence of fatalities due to road accidents in a few countries around the world



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Need for Guidelines:• The WHO in its ‘World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, 2004’

has projected that by 2020, road accidents will be one of the biggest killers in India and emphasized that in low income countries, the most common desisting factor restraining the public from coming forward to help victims, is the apparent fear of being involved in police cases.

• There is need to build confidence amongst the public to help road accident victims as WHO in its World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, 2004 has pointed out that “while in high- income countries, there is a reasonably well-organised ambulance based rescue system, in middle and low-income countries, assistance by bystanders is most common.”

• Bystander support is essential to enhance the chances of survival of victim in the ‘Golden Hour’ i.e. the first hour of the injury. Delay rendering medical help is sometimes fatal;

• Several other countries such as England, Ireland, New South Wales, Ontario and New York have enacted similar legislations;



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Bangalore - 560 001.Tel: +91 - 80 - 65462400


Coimbatore – 641018.Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921






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Tel: +91 - 44 - 24984821



Bangalore - 560 001.Tel: +91 - 80 - 65462400


Coimbatore – 641018.Tel: +91 - 422 - 6552921






Tel: +91 - 484 - 6506216

[email protected]


Conclusion:



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Websites Referred:

• http://www.livelaw.in/a-new-light-in-the-area-of-road-safety-policy-union-government-rolls-out-guidelines-for-protection-of-good-samaritans/

• http://blog.ipleaders.in/legal-provisions-road-accidents-india/ • http://thewire.in/26680/sc-guidelines-now-protect-good-

samaritans-who-help-road-accident-victims/• http://www.dnaindia.com/locality/new-delhi/now-good-

samaritans-will-be-able-help-victims-without-worrying-about-legal-harassment-87049

• http://perry4law.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Savelife-Foundation-Anr-v.-Union-Of-India-Anr-Writ-Petition-Civil-Nos.-235-Of-2012-SC.pdf



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THANK YOU