181 to be integrated with Mahila Panchayat, mobile helpline

In a bid to improve the efficiency of 181 women’s helpline, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has decided to integrate it with Mahila Panchayat and Mobile Helpline programmes.

“Till now 181 helpline has been working merely as a referral helpline that is, since it does not have a grassroot presence, it mostly forwarded complaints to police with no alternative means of providing support to the victim. “For instance, if the victim calls on 181 to report that the police is not registering an FIR, the Helpline has no option but to tell her to continue dealing with the police. In order to improve this situation, it has thus been decided that now 181 helpline will be integrated with DCW’s Mahila Panchayat as well as Mobile Helpline Program,” said DCW chief Swati Maliwal on Tuesday.

Mahila Panchayat is an innovative collective approach for community participation in dispute redressal and to offer crisis intervention and legal aid at community level to help tackle marital disputes and violence against women.

The 24-hour Mobile Helpline provides immediate relief to women in distress. The Helpline counsellor either counsels the people involved in the incident or provides help in registering an FIR or acquire medical assistance for the woman in distress. If required, the victim is rescued and often provided temporary shelter. At present there are 30 Mahila Panchayat’s functioning in Delhi. This number is now being increased to 70 in order to ensure that there is a Mahila Panchayat in each Assembly seat.