Bystanders Loot Dying Accident Victim On Agra-Delhi Highway
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2024-01-14 07:34:41
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
In a distressing incident, an accident victim lay bleeding on the road while bystanders looted the dying man of his cash amounting to more than Rs 1.5L. It happened on Agra-Delhi national highway. A speeding truck hit nearly 20 vehicles, leaving three individuals dead. One of them was Dharmendra Kumar Gupta who was carrying Rs 1.5L in a bag. Out of those who reached the accident site, some were busy making videos on their smart phones while some others ran away with the cash in Guptas bag. No one thought it proper to help the victims. If they were taken to the nearest hospital in the 'golden hour' (the hour immediately after the crash), their lives could have been saved.
It has become a trend among people to record and upload incidents like accidents and fights on roads. People have forgotten their social duty and responsibility of helping others in distress. They have also forgotten that the laws have been changed and good Samaritans who bring accidents victims to hospitals are neither detained nor questioned by the police or face any other kind of harassment. But good Samaritans are a vanishing tribe. Their place has been taken over by voyeurs - the ones who treat accidents and fights as spectacles to be recorded and uploaded on social media to get likes and followers - and others who think nothing wrong in looting a dying or dead person.
It is clear that just the Good Samaritan law is not enough. There must be law that penalizes people who are identified as having reached an accident victim but making no efforts to help him or her. In the instant case, the persons who robbed Gupta will obviously be suitably punished if they are identified and apprehended. But what about those who did not help a dying Gupta by either calling for help or taking him to the nearest hospital immediately? At another level, truckers recently went on strike to protest against the harsh penalty for not reporting hit-and-run cases and leaving the victim to die on the road. The law has been changed only to save lives. If the truck driver had not run away and helped Gupta and others who died, their lives would have been saved.
