Gujarat govt launches 14449 helpline number to lodge complaints against police
Updated: Jan 13th, 2024
Acting on the Gujarat High Court’s directive, the state government has launched a separate helpline number and a cell to lodge complaints against police.
The state government submitted the affidavit to the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee, who were hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL).
Advocate general Kamal Trivedi informed the HC, “The ministry of communication has intimidated the state and all access service providers that the shortcode 14449 has been allotted to the state government as a dedicated helpline number to lodge complaints of police misconduct.”
“However, the state helpline number is yet to be activated by the concerned service provider, presumably owing to some technical glitches, which will take about 15 days,” he added.
The state government has also created a separate cell to handle complaints. The people will be able to lodge complaints against the police in case of any misconduct through the new helpline number 14449, which will operate round-the-clock like the 100 helpline.
The state government also took responsibility for promoting the new helpline number and making the citizens aware of it, just like every other helpline number in the state.
Number dilemma
To this, Krina Kalla, who appeared as the amicus curiae, pointed out, “If you see the number, it does not click easily in the mind of a person directly.”
To this, advocate Trivedi replied that ‘14449’ is better than ‘1064’, the helpline number for the Anti-Corruption Bureau. He also added, “I assure you, it will be popular very soon.”
After hearing a detailed discussion on the numbers, the high court scheduled a further hearing for Feb 15.
The court initiated the suo motu case following a news report highlighting an incident where three policemen extorted ₹60,000 from a couple in Ahmedabad near the Ognaj toll booth on Aug 27.
Later on Dec 15, the HC insisted on a dedicated helpline and a cell for registering complaints against policemen and Traffic Regulation Brigade (TRB) jawans.
Other helpline numbers you should know:
Gujarat cyber crime cell 1930
Gujarat police 100
Disaster cell 1077
Ambulance 108
Helpline for children (childline) 1098
Women helpline (Abhayam) 181
Crime stopper helpline (to report any crime anonymously) 1090
Citizen’s call centre helpline 155303
Anti-corruption bureau 1064
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