WhatsApp comes handy for victims to contact She Teams

Of the total of 98 complaints lodged in November, 74 were made through the messaging app

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad She Teams seems to have become quite accessible for the victims of sexual harassment in reaching out for help using the WhatsApp messenger.

Of the total 98 complaints lodged in November, 74 complaints were made with the She Teams through WhatsApp . The platform has become a bridge between the police and women complainants.

---

According to the police, a total of 98 complaints were received during this period with a majority of them being on WhatsApp, while 13 from Women Safety Wing, nine received directly, and one each via email and QR code scan.

“Our aim and efforts are to ensure that no victim is afraid of stigma and steps back from making a complaint against the perpetrator. Multiple modes of lodging a complaint, particularly online mode with the advent of WhatsApp, had made the process of complaining much easier for the victim,” said a senior official.

Of all the complainants, 33 pertained to phone harassment; 14 regarding blackmailing, six for stalking, 12 cheating on promise of marriage, three on social media platforms, six for threatening, 10 for passing lewd comments. Similarly, three complaints were about sending obscene content on WhatsApp and three for misbehaving, two for flashing and one for love issue.

The 11 She Teams in Cyberabad, which are catering to the needs of an increasing number of women who are coming forward to register complaints, received complaints from victims through various social media platforms including Twitter and WhatsApp, QR Code and Email.

The She Teams approached the complainants at their place of contact to take a complaint. All complaints were acted upon and disposed of on merits, according to an official statement.

Officials said based on verification of the facts in the complaints, 29 cases were booked, including four FIRs and 25 petty cases. As many as 126 persons were counseled and warned to change their behaviour. During the same period, the teams conducted decoy operations and caught 31 persons on the spot and booked petty cases apart from stopping one child marriage.

The Cyberabad police requested women facing any kind of harassment to approach the She Teams by sending a message to WhatsApp No.9490617444 or directly call the divisional She or Dial 100 or send e-mail to sheteam.cyberabad@gmail.com or Twitter (@sheteamcybd), Facebook (Women and ChildrenSafetyWing) and Instagram (womenandchildrensafetywingcybd).