In a move that could go a long way in encouraging
witnesses to report accidents to the police, the Centre issued a
notification on Monday Aug 22,2016 ensuring that the affidavit of “Good Samaritan”, a
person who voluntarily declares himself to be an eyewitness, shall be
treated by the investigating officer as a final statement.
The
notification is in response to Supreme Court directions in an October
2014 case of SaveLIFE Foundation asking the Centre to issue directions
to save Good Samaritans until Parliament frames a law.
“The
affidavit of Good Samaritan, if filed, shall be treated as a complete
statement by the police official while conducting the investigation. In
case, the statement is to be recorded, the complete statement shall be
recorded in a single examination,” the notification added.
The
court had directed the government to frame Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) for the examination of a Good Samaritan. In March, the
court approved the guidelines and the SOPs issued by the government
with certain modifications.
The crux of the
guidelines is that no bystander rushing to the rescue of an accident
victim should be subject to civil or criminal liability and/or be forced
to be a witness. Any disclosure of personal information or offer to be a
witness, in the event of the Good Samaritan also being an eyewitness to
an accident, ought to be voluntary. Further, the examination of such a
volunteer as a witness shall be done only on a single occasion and
without harassment or intimidation.
Last week, in two
incidents, a police constable and a civilian bled to death on the roads
of Delhi as people looked on. In one case, the constable was shot by
goons he took on. The witnesses and passers-by chose not to call for
help for fear of consequences.
The notification
said the SOPs as laid down by the court under Article 32 (right to
constitutional remedies), read with Article 142, is binding on the Union
Territories and the States.
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