A 17-year school student of Gandhinagar participated in a dance event where she met a choreographer who was over 30 years old. After the event, the choreographer started stalking her. Later, he sent her proposals through several common friends, but she turned them down. He continued stalking her to school, tuition and everywhere. Harassed, she called up 181 helpline. A safety plan was prepared by 181 by which the girl called up the helpline when he stalked her next and a police control room (PCR) van was sent to the location and the stalker caught and let off after an apology. In another case, a woman in her early thirties was stalked on phone for two months by a stranger, who gave her missed calls. The woman discussed it with her husband. When her husband called up on that number, there was no reply. The police refused to entertain her complaint. Finally, she called up the helpline which put her on a conference call with Narol police station and ensured her complaint was filed and followed up. Another college student found a “Romeo” creating a fake Facebook account of her describing her as his “wife”. 181 transferred her case to the cyber cell. In a state considered to be safe for women, there have been over 150 cases of stalking on phone reported since February, when the helpline was launched, the fourth highest number of sexual offences after domestic violence (513), stress-related cases (336) and legal issues 185). Among these, 48 cases involved physical stalking, 10 of cyber stalking and three of stalking on social media. Majority complainants fall in the age bracket of 20-40 years. Recently, Chief Minister Anandi Patel, while launching a drive to eradicate malnutrition in Dahod district, had said that women would be given “shock torches”, a device that looks like a torch and is a weapon against eve-teasers, at subsidised rates. The announcement asserted the extent of the problem. The 181 helpline, since it was launched four months ago, had got 3,864 complaints from women in distress till June 26. And these complaints come only from Ahmedabad city, Surat city and Gandhinagar district, where the service has been launched launched. “Out of the total calls, the majority complaints are registered from Ahmedabad city. With about 50 per cent of complaints, the city tops the list of callers, followed by Surat which has an approximate share of 35 per cent and the remaining 15 per cent comes from Gandhinagar district,” revealed the chief operating officer of the helpline service, Jashvant Prajapati. The service has also roped in 50 NGOs working in the field of women-related issues and legal aid. These cases, once reported on 181, are then forwarded to the required agency after providing counselling to the complainant. “In most cases, the team also visits the complainant at her place for counselling, if she so desires. In majority of cases, the complainant wishes to keep it a secret even from her family members as she makes a distress call when she is alone. The acute cases are dealt with rescue vans that has a trained counsellor and a lady police personnel for immediate help to the victim,” said one of the staff members of this helpline. Once these complaints are forwarded to the cyber cell, the police follow up the case. The time required to solve a case depends upon the nature of complaint. “After the accused is identified, we inform the complainant. In all the cases, further action on the complaints is taken after the complainant’s approval. For instance, in most of the cases reported to the police, the stalker is let off after a warning,” said Ahmedabad assistant commissioner of police (cyber cell) K N Patel. The complaints are divided into categories depending upon the immediacy as emergent, urgent, acute and severe, in the order of immediacy. “The emergent calls are dealt with utmost priority as the complainant’s life is in danger. The complaints are also followed up from our end to ensure redressal to the complainant’s satisfaction,” said Roma Jamshed, one of the cousellors with the helpline service.
