Delhi Government’s 181 helpline for women in distress will also be replicated by the newly-formed Telangana State. launched after the December 2012 gangrape of a physiotherapy intern in a moving bus, the helpline is likely to be launched in Bihar, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana. Even the Nepal Government has reportedly shown interest to launch a similar helpline.
Women rights activist and helpline head Khadijah Faruqui said her team recently gave a detailed logistical and operational presentation to the Telangana Government. “The helpline is expected to be launched in Telangana soon.”
After receiving tremendous response in the national Capital, Khadijah Faruqui said many other States had shown interest to launch a similar helpline for women in distress in their respective places. Of the 11 lakh calls received by 181 so far, about seven lakh were attended by the 21-member helpline crew.
Faruqui said that the Telengana helpline would be linked to Government hospitals, District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police so that complaints received by it are immediately forwarded to the officials concerned for quick action.
Faruqui said that the helpline would be equipped with the databank on zila panchayats, mahila panchayats and grameen sabhas. “Once any complaint is received by the helpline, we would like to reach out to the victim in the quickest possible time,” Faruqui said.
The helpline head said that the Telengana Government has not set any deadline for the launch of 181. She said Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has set up a seven-member women safety committee, comprising women bureaucrats, which studied the Delhi helpline model.
Faruqui said she also interacted with activists of NGO My Choices, which is active in Telangana and works in the field of domestic violence. My Choices has been in discussions with the Telangana Government over the need to start a women’s helpline.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2012, Andhra Pradesh topped the list of dowry cases with 2,511 incidents. The undivided State reported 2,150 cases of domestic violence in 2012 — the third highest in the country.The NCRB’s data for 2013, shows that Andhra Pradesh with 7.3 per cent share of the county’s women population, has accounted for 10.6 per cent of the total crimes committed against women at all India level with 32,809 reported cases of crimes against women.