The emergency helpline 999 has been successful in preventing child marriage. In Dhaka, however, most calls involve marital disputes and domestic violence.
Rights activists feel that in making the call to seek help, victims still face hesitation. They feel that training is necessary in this regard. The 999 has helped in marital problems to preventing illegal cutting of trees to saving pet cats.
However, there is a feeling that unless a sense is created among the masses about 999, its popularity won’t rise.
Assessing statistics of calls to 999 between Dec 12, 2017 and Apr 15, 2019, shows that help sent following the calls prevented 1480 child marriages, 15 human trafficking, 615 incidents of violence against women, 577 incident of terrorism against women and 778 domestic violence cases.
Saying that people do not have trust on 999, Dhaka University Anthropology teacher Rasheda Rownok Khan observes: “There is a lack of technical and professional assistance; also, when victims do not get justice by going to the police, how they will get support by a phone call is still the main challenge.”
If people know they can get help by a phone call the service will become popular. Executive Coordinator of ‘We Can’ Zeenat Ara Huq says, “The sending of police help depends on the wish of the OC of a police station and sometimes, the OC disregards the calls for help taking them to be unnecessary hassle.”
In cases of child marriage, there has to be some sort of follow up; the service has to be made popular in the villages, she added.