Women helpline functions for only 8 hours a day in Maharashtra

The centralised women helpline number — 181 — that was proposed for better safety of women after the Delhi gang rape incident has failed to assist women in need as it is functional only between 10 am and 6 pm. Also, none of the one-stop-crisis centres have been connected to the helpline. This, in spite of Mumbai ranking high in terms of the number of criminal cases recorded in India.
The central government announced the centralised helpline number in all states, but it got delayed in Maharashtra. So, in June this year, a fresh announcement was made to start the helpline number in the state. But surprisingly, the helpline functions only between 10 am and 6 pm. There are no call attendants at night.

Flashback 2015: Work on making Aruna’s room a crisis centre yet to begin

As soon as you enter the 250-square-foot room on the ground floor of ward number 4 of KEM Hospital, a notice on the board greets you saying, “This is Aruna Shanbaug’s room’. Indeed, a semi-comatose, cortically blind Aruna spent 42 years of her tragic life, bed-ridden in this room, after she was inhumanly raped and violated by a former KEM ward boy. Finally, on May 18 this year, she succumbed to her untold suffering. The room became a poignant reminder of her struggle and similar hardships that many other rape victims like her might have endured.
As a mark of respect, the state government, in September this year, announced that the room would be made part of a 1,000 square foot open crisis centre. However, when The Asian Age paid a visit to the ward just the other day, we found that nothing had moved since the announcement.