The Delhi Government’s 181 helpline handling calls of women in distress, children and elderly citizens, which recently crossed the 12.26 lakh phone call figure has been caught in a bind.
Fifty areas in the city have been identified by the city administration’s 181 helpline as particularly vulnerable to sexual offences against the women in the national Capital. Among the most sexual violence prone areas identified by the helpline are Uttam Nagar, Sultanpuri, Nangloi, Narela, Jahangirpuri, Dabri, Najafgarh, Burari, Gokulpuri, Adarsh Nagar, Jaitpur, Malviya Nagar, Kanjhawala and Vijay Vihar. The areas which figure on this list are those from where 181
had received more than 100 calls related to sexual violence. The calls are generally made by
the women in the 15 to 45 years age group.
A latest analysis of the data compiled by the helpline, which was launched after the Nirbhaya incident two years ago, has shown that frequent calls related to sexual offences were reported from places under the jurisdiction of 50 police stations.
Figures reveal that the helpline had received as many as 12,26,090 calls from December 31, 2012 till December 14, 2014. Of these, the helpline attended to 8,52,743 calls. As many as 3,73,347 calls had to be abandoned for one reason or the other. The number of calls received by 181 had gone up from 5,98,894 in 2013 to 6,27,196 this year. Even the number of calls answered by the helpline had increased by 71,899 this year.
According to Khadijah Faruqui, consultant of the 181 helpline, the manpower and infrastructure is insufficient to handle the large number of calls that it receives. There are only
16 people who are running
the helpline.
“With just three phones lines, around 30 per cent of distress calls are dropped. Also we have few people and we need more manpower,” said Faruqui, adding the helpline since its inception has responded to as many as 8,52,743 complaints.
“With just three phones lines, around 30 per cent of distress calls are dropped. Also we have few people and we need more manpower,” said Faruqui, adding the helpline since its inception has responded to as many as 8,52,743 complaints.
Meanwhile, the data analysed by the experts on sexual assaults against women showed that as many as 14,318 FIRs were lodged on the basis of calls received by 181 helpline.
In 67 police stations, the number of cases registered was as low as anything between 1 and 10. There were about 115 stations, where the number of cases registered ranged between 10 and 100. What came as a major surprise was that in 37 stations, the number of FIRs registered ranged between 100 and 200.
While Uttam Nagar topped the list with 454 cases, it was followed by Sultanpuri, where 333 cases had been filed. Among the police stations where more than 200 cases were registered were Gokulpuri and Sangam Vihar (both 201), Tilak Nagar (202), Burari (211), Najafgarh (214), Dabri (215), Mangolpuri (242), Aman Vihar (252), Jahangirpuri (252), Narela (253) and Nangloi (268).