Most calls to the women helpline number 1091 are from women suffering from domestic violence or facing physical abuses from in-laws, said police on Tuesday.
According to data, the Gurugram Police has received a total of 8,100 calls on the 24-hour women’s helpline number until November 2019.
Of these 1,500 calls were related to domestic violence and 100 other calls were related to rape, attempt to rape, molestation, stalking, eve-teasing, kidnapping and 6,500 of the calls were blank calls.
In the previous year a total of 8,490 calls were received on the women helpline number. Of these 1,471 calls were related from domestic violence, 26 of rape, 20 of stalking, 35 of molestation and 6,909 of the calls were blank calls.
Similarly, on an average, the police control room (PCR) received around 1.5 lakh calls per month in which according to the police around 70 per cent calls were fake.
And around 7,000 calls were valuable who are related to the crime category or emergency calls.
The women helplines are manned by well-trained policewomen, who handle all calls with great caution and care. But the policewomen agree that while they get varied calls, the number of calls could improve.
“Most women continue to dial 1091 indicating that citizens are aware of the women’s helpline number. Sometimes the same victim made a number of calls for the same incident,” said a senior police officer.
“If a caller rings up 100 or 1091, he or she will be given the same attention and the police will take action as soon as possible.
However, if women become more aware that there is a separate helpline for them then maybe they would ring us directly,” the officer added.
According to policewomen, most calls they receive are from women suffering from domestic violence, dowry or facing abuses from in-laws. When it comes to dowry cases though, the police put the caller in touch with their local police who immediately inspects the house.
“We first try to talk to the person and calm them down in case they are tense, we also sent nearby PCR vans to the location of the victim for immediate help so that the caller feels safe. We also, share the numbers of any NGO’s that they could contact,” said one of the policewomen who handle the phones.
The helpline also assists those who are victims of eve-teasing and promptly send the police when a complaint is received.
