 bill no 156 of 2014 the good samaritan (protection from civil and criminal liabilities) and miscellaneous provisions bill,  2014 by shrimati kirron kher, mp a billto provide for protection to good samaritans from civil and criminal liabilities by establishing supportive legal environment; constitution of good samaritans authority; obligations of hospitals and clinics and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "accident" includes road, railways or air accident;5(b) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the government ofthat state and in all other cases, the central government;(c) authority means the good samaritan authority constituted under section 3; (d) "bystander" means a person who is witness to an accident or incident ofcrime;10(e) "emergency response" means reasonable necessary reaction to an accidentor incident of crime and includes taking the victim to a hospital in order to save his life or calling in ambulance or police;(f) "fund" means the good samaritan welfare fund constituted undersection 11;15(g) "good samaritan" includes a bystander who helps a victim by takingreasonable necessary action to save his life or property;(h) "incident of crime" includes sexual assault, robbery, theft, murder, attempt tomurder, kidnapping, attempt to kidnapping and road rage; and(i) "victim" means a victim of an accident or crime203 (1) the central government shall, within a period of six months from the coming into force of this act, constitute an authority to be known as the good samaritan authorityconstitution of the good samaritan authority25(2) the chairperson of the authority shall be nominated by the central government in such manner, as may be prescribed, from amongst persons of eminence having adequate knowledge of and experience in management, administration, public affair, health services, social work or law(3) the authority shall have one representative from each state and union territory as member, who shall be appointed by the central government in consultation with the concerned state government or the union territory administration, as the case may be30(4) the chairperson and the members of the authority shall hold office for a period of three years from the date of their appointment(5) the authority shall have such number of officers and staff, as may be necessary, for efficient discharge of its functions(6) the salaries and allowances and other terms of conditions of the officers and staff of the authority shall be such as may be prescribed4 the functions of the authority shall be—35functions of the authority(a) to receive complaints of harassment or violation of rights of good samaritansunder this act and institute legal proceedings against persons involved in such harassment or violation of rights;40(b) to process and pay claims of hospitals regarding payment of hospital chargesfor providing treatment to a victim;(c) to take up mass media campaigns to encourage and sensitise the public inbecoming good samaritans;(d) to inform the general public about the provisions of this act and in particularthe rights of good samaritans in such manner, as it may deem appropriate5 (1) a good samaritan shall not be liable to any civil or criminal liability in respect of anything done or cause to have been done to save the life or property of a victim5(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, a good samaritan, in respect of an accidents or crime in which he helps in saving life or property of a victim, shall have the following rights, namely:—exemption from civil or criminal liability to good samaritan and their rights(a) he shall not be required or compelled to file a first information report unless he decides otherwise;(b) he shall not be required or compelled to pay any charges for treatment including future treatment to the hospital or clinic in which the victim is brought by him for treatment;10(c) unless he so chooses, he shall not be detained by the hospital or any police official for any reason including, but not limited to,—(i) finding or confirming the identity of the victim; (ii) any questioning unless he decides to stay and respond; and15(iii) standing as witness or providing evidence to the police or any otherperson;(d) he shall not be forced to reveal his identity; and (e) he shall not be subject to any force or harassment by any person investigating into or otherwise related to the accident or incident of crime20(3) where a good samaritan chooses to assist in the investigation of an accident or incident of crime,—(a) the police shall act with sensitivity towards him and complete the recording of his statement and all other proceedings relating to him in a timely manner;(b) he shall not be called repeatedly;25(c) his statement as a witness in a court of law shall be recorded through videoin a single hearing6 (1) it shall be the duty of every educational institution to impart training in first-aid and emergency response to every student above the age of thirteen years for such duration, as may be prescribed30(2) the training under sub-section (1) shall be imparted once in every academic yeareducational institutions to impart training in first-aid and emergency response to students (3) for the purpose of imparting training under sub-section (1), the educational institutions shall take the assistance of such professionals or institutions, as the appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette, specify7 (1) it shall be the duty of the appropriate government to impart training in first-aid and emergency response to all their employees once every year35(2) for the purpose of imparting training under sub-section (1), the appropriategovernment shall take the assistance of such professionals or institutions, as it may, by notification in the official gazette, specifyappropriate government to impart training in first-aid and emergency response to its employees8 the appropriate government shall, from time to time, organize and conduct programmes, workshops and seminars to—40(a) sensitise the citizens in becoming good samaritans;appropriate government to organize awareness programmes and workshops(b) make the citizens aware of emergency response numbers of ambulance serviceand police assistance; and(c) train the citizens in the art of first-aid and emergency response9 (1) no hospital or clinic shall deny emergency treatment to any victim:provided that if the hospital or clinic is not equipped to deal with the emergencytreatment, it shall assist in directing the victim to the nearest hospital or clinic where such emergency treatment facility is available5duty of every hospital and clinic to provide emergency treatment(2) no hospital or clinic shall demand any payment for providing emergency treatmentto any victim or deny such treatment if the family members of the victim are unable to make the payment10(3) for reimbursement of charges incurred during emergency treatment of any victim,the hospital or clinic concerned shall apply to the authority within such period and in such form and manner, as may be prescribed(4) it shall be the duty of hospital or clinic to inform the police as soon as a victim isbrought to the hospital or clinic by a good samaritan10 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a fund to be known as the good samaritan fund15constitution of good samaritan fund(2) the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament by law in this behalf, credit such sums to the fund, as may be necessary, for carrying out the purposes of this act2011 (1) where any physical or mental damage to, or death of, a victim occurs due todenying emergency treatment to him by a hospital or clinic, the licence of such hospital or clinic shall be cancelled and such hospital or clinic shall also be liable to a fine which shall not be less than ten lakh rupees:penalty for denial of treatment to victims by hospitals or clinics(2) notwithstanding anything in sub-section (1), no hospital or doctor shall be liableto any civil or criminal liability for any physical damage to, or death of, a victim due to complications during the emergency medical attention:25provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to a case of gross medicalnegligence by a medical practitioneract to have overriding effect12 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistenttherewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this act30power to remove difficulties13 (1) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provision of this act, the centralgovenment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removal of the difficulty:35provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of twoyears from the date of the commencement of this act (2) every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made, be laidbefore each house of parliamentpower to make rules14 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act40 45(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsin india, fifteen people die every hour in road accidents the number of deaths due to road traffic accidents in the last decade is close to one million in medical care terminology, the term 'golden hour' also known as golden time refers to a time period lasting for one hour following an accident or traumatic injury being sustained by a person, during which there is highest likelihood that prompt medical care will prevent death yet, a large percentage of people seem unwilling to help injured persons in the road accidents or to victims of violent crimes including rape the reason for citizens' inaction ranges from fear of harassment by police, payment of cost of medical treatment in hospitals, etcthere is a an immediate need for framing a policy providing for immediate help to victims of road accidents, crimes and to motivate the bystanders to come forward to help the victims of road accidents, violent crimes, etc by taking them to nearest hospitals for medical treatmenthence this bill financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the constitution of the good samaritan authorityclause 4 provides for processing and payment of claims received from hospitals regarding payment of hospital charges for providing emergency treatment to a victim and to take up mass media campaigns to encourage and sensitise the public in becoming good samaritans clause 6 provides for imparting training in first-aid and emergency response to every student above the age of thirteen years in all educational institutions clause 7 provides for imparting training in first-aid and emergency response to every employee under the state by the appropriate government clause 8 provides for organizing programmes, workshops and seminars to sensitise citizens in becoming good samaritans and making them aware in the art of first-aid and emergency response the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees two hundred crore will be involved per annuma non-recurring expenditure of rupees one hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 14 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the matters will relate to detail only, the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— abillto provide for protection to good samaritans from civil and criminal liabilities by establishing supportive legal environment; constitution of good samaritans authority; obligations of hospitals and clinics and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shrimati kirron kher, mp)gmgipmrnd—3116ls(s3)—03122014