India's Good Samaritan Law was passed as a Bill by the
Supreme court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
on March 30, 2016, and gave the "Force of Law" to the guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritans and then issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. In the consecutive months, the state governments have passed GO (Government Order). Later, it was included in the draft of Motor Vehicle Act 2019. Also issued were operating procedures for Good Samaritans. Important points stated are
* Police should not involve the Good Samaritans for investigation.
* Hospitals should not refuse to treat the accident victims and should not charge for First Aid.
* Good Samaritans should be protected from civil and criminal liability.
* Good Samaritans need not reveal their identity.
* Good Samaritans can choose to be an eyewitness, and should not be compelled otherwise.
Background
India is the second largest country in the world after China to lose more number of lives in road accidents. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics. 1317 crashes and 413 deaths everyday or 55 crashes and 17 deaths every hour happen due to road crashes in India. More than 50% accident victims die because they don't receive medical attention during the Golden Hour. In reality, by standers don't often come to help the accident victims, fearing legal intervention.
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
based in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. Thozhan have been working on various activities like environmental conservation, coastal cleanups, leadership development, community empowerment, etc. from 2007 across
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. Of these activities, road safety was being concentrated extensively from 2013 in the aim of transforming our country as an "Accident Free Nation" where they conduct "Traffic Awareness Campaigns" in public places such as live traffic signals, parks, beaches, etc. every week where their volunteers holding awareness placards & banners interact and remind commuters about the importance of following traffic rules and safety gears. And special campaigns happen during Road Safety Week and other national days of importance by doing
cosplay
Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...
to promote road safety in public places. Few of the major activities done by them for educating the importance of road safety are conducting Traffic Awareness Campaign in 100 signals at same day and same time by involving thousands of youngsters from various volunteering organizations, student groups and public in 2014, 2015, 2016 and foot board awareness for public commuters across Chennai in 67 bus stops which is a step to prevent accidents from happening. In the year 2017, 2018, 2019, mega awareness drive was carried out in public parks to create awareness about Good Samaritan Law and Golden Hour
first aid
First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...
training in more than 75 public parks respectively at the same day and same time by the volunteers certified by GVK EMRI. During the First Good Samaritan Law Day, they educated and created awareness about this law through online campaign where more than 500 volunteers and public pledged to be a Good Samaritans and also taught their family members about the Good Samaritan Law. They organized virtual pledging through google sheets, video & audio forms in order to reach out the public during the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
lock down. This was followed by giving representation to the State and Central Government authorities to announce this day officially.
India's First Online Mega Awareness Campaign
In August 2020, Thozhan has organized a mega online awareness campaign across India where many NGOs, college students, school students and public have participated on it. Trainers from their team have took session on Good Samaritan Law and Golden Hour via
zoom
Zoom may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Zoom (software), videoconferencing application
* Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display
* Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...
to more than 2750+ participants on a span of 2 days. The first day, 8 August 2020 the session was held continuously from 10 AM to 9 PM and on 9 August 2020 also session were held continuously for 12 hours where the participants attended are from Jammu and Kashmir,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
,
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
,
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
and
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and took pledge to help accident victims which makes this as a 1st mega national level awareness campaign happened so far in our country for road safety. Demands were put, letters were written and sent to the
Prime Minister of India
The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
, Ministry of Road Transport & highways,
President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
and
Vice President of India
The vice president of India (IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the ...
to implement “Good Samaritan Law” as a full-fledged law in the upcoming parliamentary session.