As per the data released by the National Commission for Women (NCW), since the nationwide lockdown was imposed, a total of 257 complaints related to various offences against women have been received, out of which 69 complaints are related to domestic violence. The three-week lockdown was imposed on March 24 to control the spread of coronavirus in the country.

State-wise analysis of the data showed that the maximum number of complaints were received from Uttar Pradesh (90), followed by Delhi (37). While 30 domestic violence complaints were received between March 2 and March 8, 58 such complaints were received between March 23 and 30, as per the NCW data.

Ironically, 181, the women helpline number that was launched on March 8, 2016 in Uttar Pradesh with the intention of providing free-of-cost help to women suffering domestic violence in remote areas of the state, has stopped ringing since the lockdown. The helpline number, which has come to the rescue of more than five lakh victims in Uttar Pradesh so far, has been facing fund-crisis for some time now. But since the lockdown, the helpline number has fallen flat as the department couldn’t provide conveyance charges to its 390 workers to commute during the lockdown.

The helpline stopped working on March 26

A tele-counselor working with the helpline number told Gaon Connection on the condition of anonymity: “Even though I have not received honorarium for eight months, I used to come to office regularly by hiring an autorickshaw. But, since the lockdown, I have not been to office because I couldn’t. If only I had been provided a conveyance by the office, I could have come.

On March 26, Ashish Verma, the project head of the helpline number, conveyed to its staff through WhatsApp that the helpline number won’t be functioning. Gaon Connection couldn’t talk to him for the story as he cited his poor health as the reason for not speaking to us over the phone.

But when we got in touch with Manoj Rai, director, Uttar Pradesh Women and Child Development Welfare, he said: “The helpline is not closed. It’s operational.” When we called him again at 2:30 pm and asked him why no one was answering the 181 number despite repeated calls being made, he simply said: “During this time of the lockdown, it is quite possible that no one has managed to reach the office yet due to the lack of conveyance.”

Gaon Connection tried to talk to Veena Meena, the principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Women’s Welfare department, but she did pick up the call. We have sent her the questions through WhatsApp and the news will be updated as soon as she responds.

Helping facing fund-crunch for long

When contacted, Rekha Sharma, the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, informed Gaon Connection over the phone: “The number of domestic violence cases has more than doubled in the country during lockdown. Whenever we receive a complaint, we contact the officers in-charge at the concerned place and help the woman out.”

But when we spoke workers and team leaders working with the 181 helpline number, they revealed that the helpline is not functioning since the lockdown.

Earlier, they were provided with a van for commuting purposes, but the facility was withdrawn two-three months back. Since then, workers were coming to the office in three shifts — morning, afternoon, night – using their own transport or by public transport.

A woman working with the helpline number said: “I used to cycle 24 kms one way to reach office. But, since the lockdown, I could not get out of the house. I am six months pregnant and in dire need of money. At least, ration could have been provided to us, so that we may not have faced such hardships.”

The Uttar Pradesh government’s most ambitious project has been facing government neglect and paucity of funds for the past several months. The 390 staff members have not received honorarium for eight months, which has now aggravated their difficulties.

Chandramukhi Devi, member, National Commission for Women, said over the phone: “I was aware that those working with the Uttar Pradesh Mahila Helpline were not getting salary for the past eight to nine months, which affected the work for several months. But I did not know that they still have not received their dues. I shall bring these matters under notice of the chief minister.”

She added: “Of all the complaints that we have received online during the lockdown, the highest number of domestic violence cases are from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab. So, we need this helpline number. We are trying to provide resources so that cases of domestic violence can be controlled at such times.”

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of domestic violence

The helpline number is crucial as Uttar Pradesh tops in terms of crime against women across the country as per the report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), an institution registering crimes across the country. As per the recently released report, 3.59 lakh cases of crime against women had been reported throughout the country in 2017 out of which 56,011 cases were from Uttar Pradesh.

While the Nirbhaya fund in the state has a budget of Rs 119 crore, only 3.93 crore have been spent and important schemes related to women safety are on the verge of closure.

The helpline received over 13 lakh calls from March 2016 to March 2017 when it was run as a pilot project in 11 districts. From April 2017 to March 2018, it had received over 17 lakh calls and from April 2018 to March 2019, over 21 lakh calls were received. However, between April 2019 to August 2019, only around 8.15 lakh calls were received.

The responsibility for the operation of the scheme was assigned to the private sector company GVK MRI for five years. The department had stopped paying the company dues from February 2019. The company gave the employees a salary for June 2019 so that the scheme would not be stalled, but the budget was not passed. Gaon Connection tried to talk with Ashish Sharma, the HR head of GVK MRI, but he did not pick up his phone.

This women helpline is for the entire state. Its head office is in Lucknow in which 90 tele-counsellors are employed. Each district has a field counselor and a rescue van from 181, which helps the district team to reach out to those women. In the absence of funds, the rescue van of 181 has been parked for about a year. The field workers are now unable to reach out to the women living in remote villages.

A team leader said on the condition of anonymity: “When people are living confined to their homes due to corona, the phone calls of domestic violence were coming up more than ever. Women were saying that now men are lying idle in the house all day and due to shortage of money they are resorting to beating and abusing the wives. But since the 21-day lockdown, we could not go to office.”

The Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI), an organisation based in Lucknow, carried out a research in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand during the lockdown. Twenty-three per cent women who were interviewed accepted that they have been a victim of domestic abuse since the lockdown began.

“We are being neglected”

While announcing the lockdown on March 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the state governments to not cut salaries or sack anyone.

At the same time, on March 30, Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari issued a letter to all additional chief secretaries and principal secretaries stating that all employees should get salaries for March in the first week of April.

A staff member said: “The government is currently coming forward to help everyone, but we are not being heard even. We had hoped that we would be paid by March but now the officials are saying it will be possible only after April. Since the lockdown, we have intimated the chief minister through our officers that we are in a lot of trouble and that we must get our salaries. but no one is paying any attention to us.”

Another staff member, who has not received salary for eight months, said: “Now we are worried about rationing. We had requested our seniors to provide us with a little bit of ration, at least, during this time, if there is no money. Twenty people wrote their names and applied, but there was no response. Only we know how we are managing since the lockdown. How do we help other women in distress when we ourselves are mentally stressed? Whom do we speak to? If we talk to the media, we may lose our job.”

Most of the women working here are either single or divorced, some live in rented accommodations and are in deep financial problem.

A staff member said: “I live in a rented house. The landlord has been asking for a long time to vacate the house. I had assured him the rent in March, but now the officers are saying that because of the lockdown, we would get the salaries only after April. I am divorced. My savings have been used up long ago. I was getting through by borrowing from people. Who would lend me the money now?”