VIJAYAWADA: Women’s helpline number 181, which was set up in 2017 with an objective to help women facing violence, has received only 45 calls from Krishna district so far. B Sudha Rani, a counsellor at Sakhi Centre, Vijayawada, said, “Not many women use the helpline because they approach police or Sakhi centres directly.”The few calls we receive are from urban areas, as women in rural areas lack awareness, she added.
Even after a number of eve-teasing incidents being reported in Vijayawada, not a single woman has called the helpline seeking relief from it because most women are unaware of its existence. When women were asked who they will contact in emergency, their response revolved around family, friends, and police.
N Himabindu, a resident of the city, said, “We don’t know about the women’s helpline. I call my family when I am in need. In cases of emergency, I contact the police, but I have never dialled 181.”Commenting on the poor response to the helpline, H Arun Kumar, Commissioner of Women and Child Welfare Department, said, “We are trying to make women in both urban and rural areas aware of this helpline.”
Howevcer, local police and NGOs are coming up with other helplines and advertising them, and people tend to approach the local helpline numbers more,” he added. The 181 helpline unit will be shifted to the State office of the Women and Child Welfare Department in Guntur, and on its launch, many more awareness drives will be organised, he added. Of the 45 calls received from Krishna district, 27 were regarding domestic violence cases and eight regarding cases of women who were facing domestic violence but were unwilling to approach legal authorities.
Two calls were regarding cases of couples who had married without their families’ consent and were now seeking protection from them, two reporting child marriage, two reporting abandonment of old parents by children, and one reporting a cheat. Three calls were made by people demanding shelter for beggars.