High Court slams UT Police for letting accident victim lie on road for 2 hours

“She was left to die on the road for two hours. Is this the value of human life?” acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh asked the counsel for the UT Administration.

The acting Chief Justice enquired about the action taken against Shri Prakash,Station House Officer (SHO),Police Station,Sector 3. “What action will you take? She has died,” remarked the Bench which also had Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain.

Unimpressed with the reply that an “enquiry is going on”,the Bench asked why the police officials present on the spot waited for the SHO to arrive. Referring to a Supreme Court judgment,the Bench wondered whether the Chandigarh Police officials were aware that an accident victim had to be immediately rushed to hospital than waiting for senior police officers to reach the spot.

Referring to the news reports which stated that the police officials present on the spot had claimed that they had instructions from the SHO to wait till he arrived,the Bench asked,“How can he (SHO) pass such directions?”

The Bench took suo motu notice of a news item appearing in an English daily and issued notices to the Chandigarh Police. The court gave 10 days’ time to the Chandigarh Police to explain what compensation it intended to offer to the kin of the deceased.

Notices were also issued to Punjab and Haryana. The two states and the Union Territory were directed to furnish details of the arrangements available with them to transport an injured immediately to the hospital properly and without delay.

“It is common knowledge that accidents do occur but authorities have to make schemes for providing emergency services to injured,” the Bench observed.

The two states and the UT were ordered to produce the policies framed by them to provide immediate medical attention to the accident victims. Also,details of paramedical staff,if employed any,would also be furnished by Punjab,Haryana and Chandigarh.

Sharmila Gupta,whose husband had died in October last year in a road accident,was crushed by a CTU bus at the roundabout adjoining the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH),Sector 16,on Tuesday. Ravit and Akash,the two eyewitnesses,claimed the woman’s body kept lying on the road for two hours before she was shifted to GMSH-16 at 3.20 pm where she was declared dead on arrival by doctors.

The two youths even submitted a written complaint to the Chandigarh Police demanding action against the SHO and erring police officials. They alleged that rather than taking the victim to the hospital,the police officials prevented them from taking her to the hospital.