Giving sexual abuse victims a helpline

Thanks to the helpline she started, women employees of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) can talk about sexual harassment, which was not even discussed in whispers two years ago, reports Neelam Pandey.

Thanks to the helpline she started, women employees of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) can talk about sexual harassment, which was not even discussed in whispers two years ago.

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First-time councillor from Pitampura (north), Rekha Gupta, 35, launched the helpline in 2008 to address sexual harassment cases within the civic agency. “As a woman councilor, I felt the need to create a medium through which such issues could be raised and answered. A number of women employees used to complain about their colleagues sexually harassing them but they didn’t know what to do about it,” said Gupta.

In the past two years, more than 250 complaints have been officially received.

Gupta also introduced a scheme called ‘Sumedha’ for the girl child. Under the scheme, the civic agency will deposit Rs 1,000 in the name of every girl student passing Class V examination from MCD primary schools. She’s also running personality-development courses for the first-time women councillors. It is because of her effort that separated or divorced women started getting financial help from the MCD.