Pooja Shali
New Delhi
The anti-eve teasing helpline started by the Delhi police last year did not benefit the victims as promised due to lack of immediate effect required in such cases. Girls calling on this specific number do not receive a favourable response from the authorities and are kept waiting for an answer to the complaint.
Rama Khanna (name changed), a 20-year-old college student called up at 1091 last month, after she was constantly harassed by an anonymous caller. She was instead asked to call on some “direct” numbers which either did not get answered or were diverted to other numbers. She said, “I got four other landline numbers and eventually someone picked up to take down my complaint. But the voice was too lethargic and uninterested so I did not expect a decent reaction. I realised it was a waste of time.”
Khanna then sent an e-mail to the Commissioner of Police referring to the same concern and within the next few weeks received a call from a police official who claimed that the anonymous caller was caught and now it is her discretion to go ahead with the complaint or let the man apologise and leave. She decided to let it go as this was the first time she had received such obnoxious calls and never received them after it. She said, “The police official gave me his personal number in case of an emergency and that kept me reassured.”
However, not all victims have an option of writing e-mails and most of them, even after registered complaints, are unaware of the proceedings. PRO Delhi Police, Rajan Bhagat, said, “There can be some isolated incidents but most often the service works well and the feedback for recently launched anti-stalking help line is also positive.”
Nonetheless, in most cases the victims said that the anonymous calls stopped after they lodged the complaint with the helpline but would like the representatives to be more considerate towards the harassed victims.
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