Road rage: 50 cars slowed down, none stopped to help

NEW DELHI: For the second time in four days, the city displayed how heartless it is when it comes to offering a helping hand. The 15-year-old nephew of Vinod Mehra, who was shot during a

road rage incident

in Bhalswa Dairy of northwest Delhi at 3am on Tuesday, said that he frantically kept waving and requesting passersby for help, but no one obliged.

The nephew added that over 50 cars slowed down to see what had happened, but no one got down and took the bleeding victim to a hospital. “They shot my mama right in front of me and I didn’t know what to do to save his life. I felt so helpless. I didn’t know how to drive otherwise I would have taken him to the hospital myself,” he added.

Four days ago, Ankit Saxena, a budding photographer, also faced a similar fate in Khyala. He lay in his mother’s lap slowly bleeding to death, but despite over 30 people being around no one offered help. The crowd, instead, started clicking photographs even as the victim’s mother kept crying for help. After about 10 minutes, an e-rickshaw driver agreed to ferry them to a nearby hospital. The delay probably nullified his chances of survival.

The Good Samaritan policy clearly states that a bystander or an eyewitness who takes the injured to a hospital can leave immediately after furnishing his address and no questions will be asked. Delhi government has also said that it will provide Rs 2,000 to any person extending help in taking a victim to the hospital.

Despite this, it’s rare that one hears of stories of people coming forward to make a difference in someone’s life. Instead, people make videos with an intention to make it viral and get views of their social media profile.

Mental health expert Avdhesh Sharma told TOI that ever since life has started revolving around social media, we forget to differentiate between reel and real. “In some of the videos shared, we get to see so much graphic details indicating that we have become insensitive towards people’s pain,” he added.