Bangaloreans, will you now help accident victims?
- The commissioner has instructed the police personnel to help accident victims first.
- The reward may not necessarily be monetary.
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Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Praveen Sood, has called for implementing the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation during Emergency Situations) Act to reward people who help road accident victims. This act was introduced in 2016, but it is yet to be implemented.
The Deccan Herald report quoted the commissioner as saying people do not offer help to the road accident victims because people are scared of police procedure as well as due to fear of harassment. Therefore, to encourage people to come forward and help victims of road accidents, the city police have decided to introduce a reward system.
“The rate of conviction in traffic accidents is very low. If this law is enforced, more lives can be saved, and more people will come forward to help the victims,” the daily quoted commissioner Sood as saying. Sood also stated that he had given instructions to police officers, particularly traffic personnel, to save accident victims first. In terms of reward, he said as many do not expect money as a reward so it is not necessary that the appreciation will be monetary, even ‘thank you’ from the authority can boost morale.
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The city police have further been instructed not to ask the person helping the victim to come to the police station for various procedural formalities as a witness. If such people wish to maintain anonymity, the police should respect this decision and not ask for identity proof and other details.
About the new law and its implementation another senior police officer commented that “Police officers need to be trained in politeness. Implementing this law isn’t difficult. The initiative should come from within. This law will help to bridge the gap between police and the public.”
Apart from the fear of harassment and procedural difficulties, the self-centric nature is another reason why these days people do not help others in need. In fact, despite Supreme Court’s guideline to ensure that witnesses are not harassed by the authority in road accident cases, yet people are still sceptical about offering help.
Though the city police’s determination in implementing the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation during Emergency Situations) Act is commendable but there is also need to educate people to come forward and offer help to anyone in need.
