JAWAN’S WIFE BELIEVED IN BLACK MAGIC
Social media the second tool to lodge complaints
A 35-year-old woman, who attempted to end her life and that of her six month old daughter, is believed to have been suffering from delusions that an unknown person had practised black magic on her.
Upma Singh, wife of Army jawan Umesh Singh, reportedly jumped from the first floor of a residential building on Wednesday after throwing her daughter Reena down before her.
The child died while Upma Singh survived the fall with injuries. The family comes from Uttar Pradesh. Umesh Singh has been posted in the city for the last twoand-a-half years. Upma and her four daughters lived in Adarsh Nagar in Alwal, while her husband Umesh lived separately in Lal Bazar. The couple were always quarreling, often about the black magic that the husband tried to convince her was a delusion.
Police said that on Wednesday, one such quarrel broke out and a distraught Upma tried to commit suicide with her youngest daughter.
The stigma among women to reach out to the police personally to lodge a complaint seems to be declining in the state. Police says that the massive awareness programmes among the women folk about their rights and also the confidence in the police about handling the cases are the prime reasons.
The statistics on the number of complaints through various complaining modes received by the SHE Teams since their inception shows the difference, says the police.
About 44 months ago, on October 24, SHE Teams were introduced in the state first at Hyderabad, and then at Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates, followed by the police districts.
During the initial days of the SHE team, more women preferred complaining through social media, but these days more women are directly reaching out to the police at the police stations, which is almost three times the complaints received on social media, said SHE Teams in-charge Swati Lakra, inspector general (Law & Order) and Women Protection Cell.
The officer said that when SHE Teams were inducted into the city police force in 2014, more victims of eveteasing and sexual harassment opted social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail to lodge complaints. Despite assurance from the police about their privacy, the victims expressed interest in raising their concern through the social media earlier.
The recent statistics with the newspaper shows that the number of complaints received directly (8,711) by the SHE Teams is more than that received through Dial 100, Facebook, WhatsApp, email and Twitter (8,453).
“As time passed, the confidence in the police to deal with their grievances increased. There is a substantial increase in the number of complaints where women directly walk into the SHE Teams office or a concerned police station. The hesitation to go to a police station is declining and the victims are feeling more safer,” said the IG.