Love does not always have the happy ending that we see in movies or read in books, where they live happily ever after. There is a darker side to it also. There are times when love becomes an obsession that leads to stalking and can even end in murder, as has happened in the past. Taking notice of complaints from girls about harassment from jilted lovers, Vadodara City Police started an initiative where girls are counselled by the SHE Team on how to deal with such boys, without putting themselves in danger.
In an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, IPS officer Shamsher Singh, who is the Commissioner of Police, Vadodara City, Gujarat, shared minute details about the initiative.
WHY THIS INITIATIVE?
Two complaints were filed in Vadodara City Police Station that set off an alarm. One, a girl committed suicide because of a love affair. The other, a 19-year-old girl had some fight with her boyfriend, after which she started a relationship with other boy. Her earlier boyfriend asked her to meet him alone and murdered her. Before that, the boy was blackmailing the girl and even her parents were aware about it.
“The girl and her parents didn’t inform anything to our SHE Team. If they had informed us, we could have definitely saved the girl from such a shameful event,” said IPS officer Shamsher Singh.
NOT BEING JUDGEMENTAL
He went on to say that that they want to spread a message that they don’t want to be judgmental about young girls’ love life, they just want to save lives.
“We will file an FIR and help them through counseling because most of the girls don’t share these happenings with their parents. At the same time, they don’t have in-depth knowledge of such things and they handle them on their own, compromising their own personal safety in the process,” Mr. Singh said.
He also added that girls can safely say NO to such lovers, police is always there to help them. “Come to us, share your problem with our team and we are happy to help you always.”
HELPLINE NUMBER
The Vadodara City Police Station and SHE Team have a helpline number, mobile number, and an application to help women in need of help. The helpline number is 7434888100. One can send WhatsApp text as well and the women team is available 24×7 for help. The name of the app is ‘She Team Vadodara City’.
“We have key helpline 1064, which is only for stressed people. For example, some have exam stress, personal issue stress, so we counsel them. We have a tie-up with MSU psychology department and have trained counselors to help people in distress,” the Commissioner of Police said.
COUNSELLING AT HOME
The SHE Team counselors do not call the complainants to the police stations, instead they either do a conference call or visit them in their house. Till now the police has trapped almost 100 such jilted lovers who were harassing girls. “Our cops dress up like college girls and arrest these lovers. This has helped us to get more calls for counselling and registering complaints,” the officer said.
SHE TEAM
The SHE Team has been mainly formed for young girls, women and senior citizens, to help them if they hesitate to visit police stations. “Looking at this hesitation, we have provided motorcycles and cars to our team so that they can visit the complainant’s place for any inquiry or can talk to them over calls whenever needed,” Mr. Singh said.
In conclusion, he said that it’s a pro-active kind of policing. “Fifty per cent of our population is women and girls, and our main aim is that they should not feel that they are not safe, or they are not heard. Even if their parents are judgmental, we are always there with the promise that we will never judge, no matter what the incident is. Your safety is our utmost concern!”
