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SC calls for guidelines to protect Good Samaritans helping accident victims
To protect ‘Good Samaritans’ from unwanted legal and police hassles when they help accident victims, the Supreme Court has called on the Attorney General to appoint a body to recommend guidelines.
The court’s order came in response to a fundamental rights petition filed under public interest litigation by Kasun P. Chandraratne, President of the Foundation for Civilian Bravery, an organisation committed to protect life and promote safety measures.
The court on Thursday granted leave to proceed when it took up the petition.
Mr. Chandraratne in his petition pointed out that people were reluctant to help accident victims because they did not want to go through the hassles in police stations and courts. He said many accident victims had been left to fend for themselves and some 319 victims had died in the past five years as a result.
Supporting Mr. Chandraratne’s petition, President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva drew the court’s attention to an Indian Supreme Court judgement on a similar petition filed by a civil society group. He told court that regulations had been formulated in India after the Supreme Court had appointed a committee to study the issue.
One of the regulations reads: “Whenever a bystander or volunteer makes a phone call to inform the police or emergency services for the person lying injured on the road, he shall not be compelled to reveal his name and personal details over the phone or in person.”
Mr. de Silva said Good Samaritans feared legal consequences, involvement in litigation and repeated visits to police station and therefore not many of them were willing to help accident victims.
“There is an urgent need to tackle these issues and the need to establish legal framework so that the Good Samaritan is empowered to act without any fear of adverse consequences or harassment. Saving life must be the top priority,” he argued.
The bench comprising Justice Priyasath Dep and Justice Prasanna S. Jayawardena directed the Attorney General’s Department to form a committee consisting of representatives of the respondents cited in the petition to identify the causes for people’s reluctance to help accident victims and formulate guidelines. The bench noted that the practice in the old days was that the first vehicle passing the scene of an accident would take the injured to the nearest hospital. But today it was not the case.
The respondents include the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to whom fatal road accidents are reported, the Secretary to the Ministry of Health, which is in charge of hospitals that treat accident victims, the Secretaries to the Ministries of Law and Order and Higher Education and the Attorney-General.
The case will be taken up on February 3 next year.