‘Why is it a struggle to reach out to cops?’
LUCKNOW: Why don’t senior police officers answer phone calls and why is it a struggle to reach out to the police? These were some of the questions that students of Isabella Thoburn College posed to UP Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh on Monday.
Singh responded, “It is not always true that officers’ phones are switched off. There is a possibility that they were busy because of which they may not have taken some calls. So, leave a message instead and the police officers will call you back. Even my phone is always on.”
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the UP police is observing ‘women safety awareness week’ from December 4 to 10. The DGP chose to launch the campaign from IT College -- the first institute in South Asia to pioneer women’s education.
Narrating her experience, a participant said that when she called up 1090 to get help for a friend in distress, she was told that the victim had to be the one making the call. Responding to her, Singh said that the 1090 was meant to empower women and so encouraged victims to call up the helpline directly.
Encouraging girls to speak out against all kinds of injustices, Singh urged them to be ‘power angels’.
To queries on police officials refusing to register complaints, saying that the matter was related to another police station, the DGP said they could file complaints on 1090 from their homes. Even FIRs could be lodged, he said. “If a police station refuses to entertain your complaint, take it up with the next level officer,” he said, assuring the students that if they complained on 1090, their identities would be kept secret.
Some participants also expressed worry that the Sultapur Road got deserted after 7pm and there was no police help around, making the area very unsafe. To this, Singh said, “That area is under rural police. Efforts are on to set up a chowki under city police there to ensure commuters’ safety.”
IG Navniet Sekera, principal Vinita Prakash and a large number of students and teachers attended the session.
Cautioning the youngsters, he said they should refrain from posting and forwarding rumours on social media and should also exercise discretion while accepting friend requests.
At the same time, he also told them that crime statistics established that many times, acquaintances and not strangers were the culprits.
IN REPLY TO THEIR QUERIES, DGP URGED STUDENTS TO LODGE COMPLAINTS ON 1090