Cops winked at our misery: Women scribes
The journalists of ‘Khabar Lahariya’ - a rural newspaper taken out by women - have alleged that the Women Powerline 1090 (WPL), police in Banda, Mahoba and Mau were insensitive towards the stalking case reported by them nine months back.
Representatives of the newspaper were giving details of the harassment they faced because of the stalker all these months, during a press conference in Lucknow on Thursday.
Now that the stalker, Saddam alias ‘Nishu’ has been arrested from Sonebhadra on Wednesday, the team met DGP Jagmohan Yadav in the state capital. They also visited the WPL office to discuss their case.
Kavita, editor of ‘ Khabar Lahariya’ said: “We started receiving calls from various unknown numbers on January 7 and made our first call for help to the WPL (1090) on January 10. After much persuasion, the call was attended, but no complaint number was generated for our call which indicated that the complaint wasn’t registered. We made several calls to 1090 for help, but nothing could stop the caller from making our life hell.”
When contacted on Thursday, an official at the powerline cited lack of staff for not being able to solve all cases, said Shalini Joshi of ‘Khabar Lahariya’.
Alleging insensitivity by cops at Banda, Mau and Mahoba where FIRs were lodged months ago, Meera, chief of operations at ‘Khabar Lahariya’, said: “The cops instead of helping us only added to our woes. They asked us to repeat the obscene comments made by the stalker and even asked us to change our SIM card to avoid calls.”
Failing to provide any relief to the women journalists for nine months, the police could only get into action on Monday, following chief minister’s order and succeeded in arresting the caller within two days. The stalker had 40-odd SIM cards - all acquired through fake ID proofs.
“He got our SIMs blocked several times. We would call the telecom company and get them activated again. We would even question the telecom company as to how could others get our SIMs blocked but we failed to get any answer. All this raises a question mark on the working of telecom companies and their responsibility towards their customers’ safety,” said Kavita.
The women said their case highlighted a bigger picture of the police’s insensitivity in dealing with crime against women.
Madhavi Kuckreja, a social worker, also present at the press conference, said: “We have noticed that despite all rhetoric, t he police never take cyber crime cases seriously.”
We made our first call for help to the WPL (1090) on Jan 10. After much persuasion, the call was attended, but no complaint number was generated. We made several calls to 1090 for help, but nothing could stop the caller from making our life hell.
KAVITA, editor, ‘Khabar Lahariya’