My Experiments With Truth - Road Accident This is a beautiful story of the pathetic state of affairs of our entire system and how they operate. Read this entire episode, it might help you decide what you would want to do when you have an accident.
about 10 days ago, on a very rainy day at 930 pm i was taking a right turn at crawling speed under a dark flyover in Bombay. I had stopped under the highway flyover to look for any oncoming traffic before engaging first to take a right to hit the highway. I had just released the clutch and the vehicle had barely begun to move when I heard a thud on my right front mudguard and saw a black silouhette of someone fall and then scream.
I immediately stopped, got off and found a street urchin lady fallen on the ground and screaming in pain. Her husband too came out of nowhere( i later found out that they slept under the flyover). I could see blood from the ladys right foot. Since I had stopped and had gotten out of the car, people collected. I asked the man to pick her up and put her in my car and take offered to take her to the clinic about 200 meters from the spot. In the meantime 2 policemen showed up. So i asked them too to jump into the backseat to accompany me to the clinic. They insisted that She should be taken to the govt hospital and not to the clinic. I told them we can do that later but first lets give her first aid at the clinic. Anyways, the cops prevailed and we drove for 30 minutes with the bleeding foot to reach the govt hospital.
How it happened > From the A pillar I could not see her, she was short, wearing black, it was dark and raining. She walked into the right side of my car and stepped in front of the right tire got nudged by the right side mudguard, the tire ran over her foot and she fell down.
SCENE at the hospital:
I made the paperwork at the casualty with the cop and took her to the doctors. The doctors looked utterly disinterested. Anywyas after some shouting they attended to her and referred her for an x ray. i and the cop pushed her trolley to the x ray room and got that done and then came back to the casualty... now waiting for the x ray report.
In the meantime some people had gathered and a few enterprising souls claiming to be from some NGO organization( read as - touts), intervened and insisted that they will handle the matter and I should pay off the injured and no case will be made else there will be trouble.
Well, I refused to entertain them insisting that I am anyways bearing the medical costs and am here personally to ensure the same with the cops.
THey made a few calls and son there was a bunch of 20-30 people from some political party too to add to my pressure.
In the meantime I called a friend who in turn called another friend who sent another unknown person, now a friend for moral support and guidance.
While all this drama was ongoing with the touts, the patient was lying on the trolley, foot bleeding, and 2 hours had passed. I went in and shouted again and the x rays came.
Injury diagnosis ; Injury sustained according to the medical report and actuality = no fractures sustained to any bones in the foot. Deep cuts below the toes required sutures and 10 days rest. No other injuries sustained anywhere on the body.
The best part was that the woman was completely drunk and was fast asleep on the trolley and wouldnt wake up even when the policemen and her husband tried to wake her up. For a while everyone thought she was dead. I asked the doctor to do a blood test. I was told that a blood test can only be conducted if a memo came from the police. The police refused to go to the police station In my car even if i paid them. So no blood could be done. I couldnt do anything about it. They just refused.
Finally 4.5 hours later, the woman was attended to. She was completely drunk and wouldnt wake up. As as the norm goes in Govt hospital, no anesthetic was used. 2 ward boys held her down while the doctor started sewing her. All her nasha was off when he pushed the needle in as if he was sewing a gunny bag. She sat up like a ghost from a horror movie screaming. For the next 10 minutes she was howling away in pain. Finally she was stitched up and a cast was applied to prevent and damage to the bandage and restrict movement.
In the meantime after heavy discussions and my refusal to entertain the touts, they too finally left, realizing that they could not make any money out of me.
After the hospital, myself and the injured went to the police station with the cops. The husband in the meantime after some explaining from the havaldars and discussion with his wife, decided not to press charges if I paid them for the damages and some extra money. We agreed to a sum, the police took signed statements from them that they were mutually setteling the case and did not want to press charges. I paid them, and we all departed.
THE REAL POLICE DRAMA:
The next morning i got a call from the police officer incharge of the case asking me to come to the police station. I went. The husband and wife were there again. The man was completely drunk and demanded more money. I refused and told him to file a case if he wished. After some discussion he backed off. The lady too didnt want to press charges. The police officer however, seemed very eager to press charges. He took the drunk man aside and told him, that if he presses charges, he will get 40k from insurance and his life will be set. He assured him that he will put me behind bars. All this happening in front of my eyes. The cop seemed desperate too. He assured the woman that he would take her and get her admitted in the hospital where she would get good treatment. i told him, that was impossible, because the doctor categorically classified it as non serious and had refused to admit her last night. So I told him to do whatever he liked. He asked me to leave and come with someone to bail me out on surety of 3k in the evening. I went the next morning with a relative and was technically arrested and released on bail for a surety of 3k.
I found out later that the woman was refused admission in the hospital and advised only rest.
My vehicle was impounded for 2 days for mandatory RTO verification.
The case is completely dumb and hopefully and most likely be thrown out when it comes up for hearing.
But the nuisance value of the entire thing is tremendous. There are people waiting behind bars for justice, while cops waste precious govt resource with such goofy cases.
Add to that the purposeful harassment to me for something as stupid as this.
Lesson learnt:
It is not for no reason that there are so many hit and run cases in India.
Even if you be the good Samaritan, the hospitals and the doctors dont care. The police are more interested in making a police case before providing first aid to the victim even if you offer to do your best to help.
The Govt hospitals treat casualty worse than dogs. Its a total waste. People die waiting in the hospital just to get attended to.
The police are only interested in finding ways to make a quick buck.
On hindsight, it was very easy for me to run. And for sure it was so dark that no one would even see the number.
I dont think the next time something like this happens, i will allow myself to think like a civilised cultured human. If I can manage it, I wont turn to look nor stop to think.
Im just so angry with myself for having cared.
The system amuses me no end. All beggars and scum in official uniform. Not that I didnt know, but everytime you cross the systems corrupt highway, you cant help but note.
There really is no hope. |