SHILLONG, Oct 14: A total of 736 cases were registered by the women helpline under the Directorate of Social Welfare department during the past seven years in Meghalaya.
Of this, 279 cases are active and 457 closed. The period is from 2017 to 2024, department officials said today.
Till October this year, a total of 193 cases were received by the women helpline of which 60 are domestic violence, 18 online digital violence, 6 emotional abuse/violence, 26 legal disputes, 7 women health issue, 2 physical violence, 63 others, 4 women missing, 4 women public/workplace, 1 women racism, 1 women displacement and 1 workplaces issue, they said.
On the other hand, the child helpline has received over 315 cases during 2024-25. Of this, 51 cases are related to child abuse, 2 child marriage, 8 child abandonment, 1 child labour, 11 child missing, 15 child found, 3 addiction/substance abuse. 55 cases were successfully resolved.
In 2023-24, the number of cases received was 142, of which 112 were successfully resolved, the officials said.
Congratulating the directorate for its exemplary services, minister in-charge Social Welfare Paul Lyngdoh said, “As you would have noticed the fact that the success rate, if you go back to the figures displayed back there, would be somewhere 90 per cent. A lot of these cases have also been closed which means that they have reached a logical end.”
He said that there is greater sensitivity and greater familiarity among citizens of Meghalaya about these issues so more and more cases are getting reported.
“If you compare the situation today with what it was ten years ago, it would be a huge difference because earlier on people preferred to stay silent. The maximum that they would report is to go to the rangbah shnong and dorbar shnong, which doesn’t have the wherewithal to deal with such cases. Now that there is more awareness, people are coming forward and therefore the number of cases has also gone up,” Lyngdoh said.
The minister further said, “You will find this reference in a number of comments and remarks that you can go online, Meghalaya is considered one of the safest states in India in terms of women and children. You can find for yourself visitors to Meghalaya saying that they travel alone or with their children or just mother and children, go to various villages and they never felt any sense of being threatened or not being safe.”
On the measure taken by the department to address hesitancy of women to report against domestic violence, Lyngdoh said, “We have increased our interaction with the various social groups, women organizations and through the media, I would also like to encourage women to come forward. We now have helplines, which are attended to round the clock. Therefore, there should be nothing that would stop such women from getting in touch with us and we will certainly address their problems.”
