Delhi Police to create FB, Twitter pages for NE people

Faced with criticism over its perceived lack of sensitivity and outreach to the northeast community in the capital, Delhi Police is set to launch a Facebook page and a Twitter account for people from the northeast where they can post complaints and suggestions.

In another move, a 24-hour Delhi Police helpline will be publicised widely by their social media websites.

The decision was taken by Delhi Police in the wake of an alleged “racist” attack on Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania that led to his death and a furore among people from the northeast region.

Delhi Police already has a committee, formed in 2012 and headed by a joint commissioner of police, to tackle problems faced by students and other people from the northeastern states living in Delhi. It is currently being headed by Joint Commissioner Robin Hibu, who hails from the region.

“A Facebook and Twitter account of Delhi Police will be launched soon where students from the northeastern region can put forth their grievances and suggestions,” a police officer told IANS.

He said the accounts will be monitored regularly by a police team with good knowledge of social media and computer handling. “Delhi Police will take note of the posts and act upon them.”

“We will also post the action taken by Delhi Police on the complaints and suggestions,” he added.

Delhi Police will also publicise its 24-hour helpline number - 1091 - on the website of the ministry of development of north east region (DoNER) as well as its Facebook and Twitter pages.

It will also encourage northeast students to pen down their thoughts and experiences on wattpad - an online community themed around writing and story-telling on which users can post articles, stories, and poems about anything.

The DoNER ministry has already launched a support centre for students from the northeast following the death of Tania.

The decision was arrived at after a joint meeting between Delhi Police and officials of DoNER Feb 5, said another police official.

The support centre has been opened at the NorthEast Council Guest House in Chanakyapuri in central Delhi. Professional counsellors will be hired on contractual basis to deal with problems and issues raised by northeast students at the support centre.

In another step at outreach, Delhi Police is planning to conduct half-day seminars once a month that will see professional counsellors and northeast people discuss issues and problems faced by them. In this move, the DoNER ministry would also chip in.

Delhi Police holds meetings once in two months with students and people from the northeast in the seven police districts of the capital. The minutes of the meetings are forwarded to Hibu and the Delhi Police commissioner, said an official.

Source: Nagalandpost

POST DELHI GANG-RAPED :Helpline for women set up in India's Capital

New Delhi, 16 Jan 2013 [NDTV] --- The '181' helpline service for women in Delhi made a sputtering debut two weeks ago, hampered by technical glitches. A fortnight later, there are some encouraging signs of the service being streamlined, with more calls going through and being addressed.  When NDTV did a reality check a day after its launch, the helpline had two lines to receive calls and was manned by an all-male staff. Now, there's an all-woman team that fields calls in the control room, round the clock, in shifts.  "The staff that we have picked either has first-hand experience of harassment cases, or has experience in dealing with complaints of women in distress," says Khadija Farooqui, a human rights consultant to the Delhi Government. Located in a special room in the Delhi Secretariat complex, the helpline now operates via three telephone incoming lines. As complaints and alerts come in, a floor manager forwards them same to either the Delhi Police or the Delhi Commission for Women, depending on the nature of the complaint. Operators say that most of the distress calls come late in the evening - between 8 pm and midnight - and complaints of stalking top the list of grievances. Offensive calls and text messages are the other most-reported complaints. "Earlier we were able to respond to only 20 per cent of the calls that we received; now that number has gone up to over 70 per cent," Kulanand Joshi, one of the personnel in charge of the helpline told NDTV. The helpline was launched as part of a slew of measures by the Delhi government to improve the safety and security of women in the capital in the aftermath of the brutal December 16 gang-rape case.  Since the Delhi Police does not report to the Delhi government, this helpline acts more as a forwarding agency. The challenge now for the government is to effectively follow up on the complaints with the police and its agencies and ensure that they are addressed expeditiously.