Dying man on Delhi road: Indians are voyeurs, they rarely help accident victims

A man hit by a tempo bled on a Delhi road for 90 minutes on Wednesday morning. Hundreds of people drove past the dying man, but not one person came forward to help. The only one who walked up to the injured man ended up helping himself: He walked away with the dying man’s mobile phone.

#SHOCKING Man bleeds to death after being hit by a tempo in Delhi's Subhash Nagar area, got robbed as well. pic.twitter.com/7jWicGInuL

— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 11, 2016

Let us puff our chests and say it out aloud, Bharat Mata ki Jai.

If you think the shameful, inhuman behaviour caught on a CCTV camera in Delhi is an aberration, stand in front of a mirror and introspect. Ask yourself, when was the last time you stopped to help a road accident victim? How many of us just whizzed past after confirming that the victim was not a friend or a relative, silently telling ourselves, kaun lafde main parega (Why should we get into trouble?)

Unfortunately, most of us Indians are like this only. Self-centred insensitive quislings with a grossly exaggerated opinion of ourselves, with delusions and empty slogans of greatness. We are a country of tamaashbeens — fascinated spectators — not conscientious citizens ready to help.

Remember Jyoti Singh Pandey and her friend? Remember their plight?

“After raping Jyoti, the attackers threw us out. We were lying on the road without any clothes. I tried to get up and wave at the moving traffic. Some cars stopped, saw us and left without helping. Then the highway patrol van spotted us and called the police and we were taken to the hospital. People kept staring at me in the hospital. I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor without any clothes. I was pleading with them to call my father as I remember his phone number,” her friend recounted his 90-minute ordeal on that fateful night of 16 December.

Consider the hypocrisy: Not one person stopped by to help the victims while they were lying on the road, bleeding, unconscious and stripped of clothes. And a few days later, half of Delhi were on the roads, seeking justice for Jyoti. ‘’Saari Delhi yahan hai, Sheila Dixit kahan hai" — remember? Where was saari Delhi when Jyoti and her friend were seeking help?

Remember Kanhiya Lal and his family? In 2013, Kanhaiya’s wife and infant daughter were hit by a vehicle in Jaipur. For almost one hour, clutching their bodies to his chest, Kanhaiya and his son kept pleading for help. But nobody stopped and the victims bled to death . For the next few days, the media howled at the new low in public apathy, anchors screamed that India wants to know why its people have become so insensitive and shameless. Nothing changed.

Remember Vinay Jindal? In July 2015, hundreds of spectators watched him bleed to death after an accident in east Delhi. His death and public apathy prompted even Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask people to help road accident victims. But, we never learn. Nothing changes. Accidents keep happening, victims keep bleeding and spectators keep watching or driving away. Because, O darling! This is the real India.

In 2013, a survey by Savelife Foundation — an NGO working on road safety — found that 74 percent of Indians were unlikely to help an accident victim, whether alone or with other bystanders. Much of this apathy is because of the fear of getting drawn into legal cases, being harassed by cops and mulcted by hospitals. The laws and the system, frankly, are loaded against anybody willing to help.

Yet, what does it take to save a victim of a road accident? In many cases, just a phone call. Decades ago, when mobile phones were not around, it would have been understandable if people considered themselves helpless spectators of accidents. But now, with a penetration level of more than 80 percent, is it such a big deal to stop for a minute and summon an ambulance or inform the cops? But no, we would rather outrage on social media against a nation’s apathy instead of taking timely action.

No wonder, India has just a percent of the world’s vehicles. But we contribute to 10 percent of total global deaths in accidents. Fifty percent victims die of injuries that could have been treated.

So, think about this: Every year around 1.5 lakh Indians die in accidents. Every four minutes, one Indian is killed on the roads, every day 16 children die in accidents. Half of them could have been saved if someone would have provided timely help.

Mera Bharat Mahaan?