Shed bystander apathy: Stop! Stare! Help! : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Shed bystander apathy: Stop! Stare! Help!

Had it been canned in a film the poignant scene of a four-year-old boy seeking help from passersby would have made our hearts bleed.

Shed bystander apathy: Stop! Stare! Help!

Providing legal protection to do-gooders might be a good idea but laws alone can''t transform us into a caring society. Community initiatives can help shed our insensitivity.



Nonika Singh

Had it been canned in a film the poignant scene of a four-year-old boy seeking help from passersby would have made our hearts bleed. Yet as the tragedy played out in real life some two years ago on the busy highway of Jaipur, not a single soul cared to stop for the family in which the mother and the baby girl  bled to death after a speeding lorry hit them. This, of course, is not an isolated incident.   A young man and a woman lay naked and grievously injured in biting December cold in posh areas of New Delhi.  A 19-year-old girl was stabbed in a congested market of Delhi by a stalker. A young girl relentlessly teased in a crowded bus, jumped to her death….  

One could go on and on…crime is no stranger to India. However, behind all these tragic incidents the criminals might be different but one phenomenon is common. Meet the apathetic Indian bystander who would stop and stare but do precious little to help.  Call it the “bystander effect” or plain and simple “couldn't-care-less attitude” or “not-my- problem” corrosive mindset, the fact is indifference has almost become an Indian way of living. In public debates and social media platforms, we cry hoarse over dwindling social and moral values and take the high moral ground. Once in a while our collective conscience (post -Nirbahya rape, for instance) wakes up from its deep slumber.  However, when the onus shifts on us, inertia grips all our senses and paralyses us into deafening silence and numbing inaction. Empathy clearly is easier said than done. 

The insensitive indifference of the “conscientious” Indian is so real that it finds corroboration in cold statistical facts. According to a survey by the Save LIFE Foundation, an NGO that deals with improving road safety and emergency care in India, 74 per cent bystanders are unlikely to assist a seriously injured person on the road. Of course, as they analysed the sample further they also zeroed down on some of the reasons for this callousness. An overwhelming majority of 88 per cent of those bystanders cited legal hassles, including repeated police questioning and multiple court appearances reasons for their reluctance to help.  

Not surprising. The foundation proposed Good Samaritan law which has since found an echo and support from people cutting across party lines.  In December 2014, when the BJP MP Kirron Kher introduced the Good Samaritan Bill as a Private Member’s bill, politicians such as Shashi Tharoor appreciated her move. While the bill is still awaiting execution, the Supreme Court did lay down guidelines recently which will protect a person who helps an injured person on the road, from legal and procedural hassles at the hands of the police, hospitals and legal entities. The guidelines also state that people who come forward to help will not be unnecessarily detained nor forced to reveal their identities. While it's good to provide legal protection to do-gooders, but it is unlikely that statutes alone would impel us to act. It's indeed a telling comment on our times that a law is needed to prompt people to do the right thing. Conversely, it's equally ironic that do-gooders need to be protected by a law. If it’s any consolation, world over there are such laws which work both ways. While on the one hand, regulations ensure that the person providing aid will not be prosecuted legally, it also means the duty to rescue is not a toothless tiger on paper. Failure to come to the rescue of a person in hazard is a criminal offence in Germany.  Similar laws exist in France. This means that everyone has a moral obligation to help without putting oneself to danger. Indeed, to some extent apathy is a universal disease. Globally people remain passive bystanders.  In the UK, even officials refrain from coming into the line of fire if they are not trained for the job. One such incident in UK led to the death of a 10-year-old boy. After the tragic turn of events, UK drew up the Good Samaritan law to overcome people's unwillingness to step forward. Should India also follow European models and punish the bystander? Debates can deliberate the final shape of the law.  However, to presume that law alone will save lives and transform society into a sum total of caring and sensitive individuals would be overstating the case. When Jesus Christ said “love thy neighbour as yourself” he didn't mean it in the literal sense. Certainly as the parable reminds us it wasn't the next-door neighbour but humanity at large and pointedly any person who is in distress that he was alluding to. Closer home, the Mahatma of the nation told us to be the change we want to see. Yet as we go about ruing government apathy, political indifference and bureaucratic stronghold, as citizens of this nation we never turn the gaze inwards. Civic duty to most of us is an alien concept, even anathema to our sensibilities, perhaps to be paid heed to in another nation. But in India, we the proud Indians not only look the other way but even lack basic civility. We jump queues and red lights, spit and urinate in public spaces, shout at the slightest provocation, are rude to the point of repugnancy and head north when confronted with people in emergency situations. The ugly Indian has edged out the creative and civilised impulses.  A country is not only as good as its leaders but, more importantly, as its people. We can go on blaming our political class but it's we the Indians, especially the chatterrati, who have failed India. 

“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another,” said Alfred Adler, Austrian psychotherapist, and founder of the school of Individual Psychology. Citizen Indian will you please pay heed, stand up and be counted. Some community initiatives such as Izzat Ki Fauj, however, have already taken the lead. Brainchild of ad guru Alyque Padamsee, the project was born after two youngsters paid with their life when they decided to stand up to the goons who teased their friends. This drive against eve-teasing involves plainclothes policemen and volunteers to keep Mumbai's streets safe for women at all hours. Tall order, a beginning has to be made. Admittedly public vigil should not degenerate to vigilantism, it can certainly take us one step closer to shedding our ingrained callousness and the deadening saanu ki mindset. 

[email protected]

Top News

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Bullying Congress culture, no wonder being rejected: PM Modi, backs senior lawyers who flagged attempts to undermine public trust in judiciary

Bullying Congress culture, no wonder being rejected: PM Modi

Backs senior lawyers who flagged attempts to undermine publi...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All