Odisha police to call up victims of domestic violence to know their well-being
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha police have decided to launch a ‘phone-up’ programme where cops will call up women, who were earlier subjected to domestic violence, and verify their well-being during the lockdown period. The novel initiative was conceptualized after chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday expressed concern over rising incidents of domestic violence in the country and asked police to take stringent action against the culprits.
DGP Abhay said the “phone-up programme” will be implemented through the state level call centre of state crime records bureau (SCRB). Notably, the call centre was set up at SCRB here last year under the state government’s Mo Sarkar (my government) initiative to receive feedback from complainants about police conduct and service in police stations across the state.
Police sources said the SCRB call centre has already retrieved FIRs, related to domestic violence of 2018, 2019 and 2020 (till now). “We will make telephone calls to the victims of domestic violence and find out their well-being. If we find that they continue to undergo torture or harassment in houses, we will send police officers of the concerned areas for verification. SCRB call centre will intimate such matters to deputy superintendents of police or additional superintendents of police of investigation unit for crime against women (IUCAW) for follow-up action,” another senior police officer said.
After Naveen’s concern, Odisha police have started providing services to victims of domestic violence at doorstep. Police personnel have been collecting complaints from the victims from their homes and delivering FIR copies to them at doorstep.
The state women and child development department on Wednesday launched a WhatsApp number (7205006039) to report domestic violence cases. The state commission for women (SCW) too on Thursday came up with its helpline number (8763543013) to address the issues of women facing domestic violence.
-
Download
-
Subscribe
Start Your Daily Mornings with Times of India Newspaper! Order Now