Stepping up measures for women's saftey in the backdrop of growing demand for such action, Karnataka Government on Thursday set up a dedicated helpline.

Women in distress and those facing threat of attack including molestation could call on phone number 1091. The helpline in Bangalore would work 24x7, state home minister R Ashok told reporters.

The government initiative comes in the backdrop of the national outrage over the gangrape of para-medical student in Delhi and several incidents of rapes in the state in the past fortnight.

Voicing concern over rape incidents, state energy minister Shoba Karandlaje on Wednesday urged the BJP government in the state to amend laws to provide for stringent punishment, including surgical castration, to perpetrators of crime against women.