Indians have embarked on a process of national soul-searching after surveillance footage showed a stream of cars, motorcycles and pedestrians ignoring the fatally injured victim of a hit-and-run as he died on a Delhi street – with one passerby even stealing the man’s phone.

The victim, identified by Indian media as 36-year-old security guard Matibool, was eventually taken to hospital but had died by the time he arrived.

CCTV footage showed him being hit by the small truck at 5.40am on Wednesday as he walked along the side of the road in Subhash Nagar, in the city’s west. The truck driver stopped and got out of his vehicle but drove away after glancing at the man.

He lay in the street for nearly 30 minutes and had his phone robbed by a passing rickshaw driver before a friend spotted him and alerted police, who took another 40 minutes to arrive.

The driver has reportedly been arrested and the unedited footage has been aired by Indian TV networks, sparking widespread anger and reflection among the public.

Satyendar Jain, the home minister in the Delhi government, has announced plans for a “good samaritan” scheme where people could be financially rewarded for taking victims of road accidents to a hospital.

“It is very unfortunate that no one come to assist him. Government has prepared an incentive scheme under which people including drivers of taxi and auto, taking road accident victims to hospital will be rewarded,” he said.

Passersby might be reluctant to pick up accident victims for fear of attracting suspicion or harassment by police, Jain said, adding: “There is also a supreme court directive that such people who help accident victims cannot be harassed or questioned. I appeal to people to help them as it is a pious task to save someone’s life.”

There was similar outrage after a 2013 incident where footage showed a man being ignored by hundreds of drivers as he pleaded for someone to take his wife and infant child to hospital after an accident in Jaipur.

The 23-year-old victim of a gang-rape and murder that sparked protests around the country in December 2012 lay badly injured beside a major road in Delhi for 40 minutes before emergency services were called.

India has the highest rate of accidents per vehicle in the world with about 150,000 road deaths per year and several times more injuries. Road are poorly maintained, traffic rules are rarely followed or enforced, and drivers are often untrained.

