Delhi judge dials 100, gets no reply; HC to hear PIL
NEW DELHI: A Delhi high court judge has written to the commissioner of police about the “poor” response of ‘dial 100’ helpline service, based on his personal experience.
The letter by Justice Vipin Sanghi, also shared with high court Chief Justice G Rohini, was converted into a PIL on Tuesday after she took suo motu cognisance of the issue of distress calls going unanswered or put on hold.
In his letter addressed to top cop Alok Kumar Verma, Sanghi narrates his “poor personal experience” of calling up the helpline on April 29 when he was on his way to Vasant Kunj to attend a wedding reception. “There was a big traffic jam in Vasant Kunj at a crossing and I was stuck for about 40 minutes. Since I could not spot any traffic policeman on the road to manage traffic, I called on 100 number at 10.12pm to inform police about the jam,” the letter informs Verma.
But to the dismay of the judge, his call was not answered. According to the letter, despite holding the call for five minutes, there was no answer. This despite the helpline being an emergency response mechanism.Any call made to 100 should be answered immediately as it is very likely that it may be called by people in grave emergency. In my view, this is a very serious issue that you need to look into, to make the service more effective and efficient,” Sanghi says.
Interestingly, the judge informs Verma that he even tried to reach him on his mobile number but the calls went unanswered. “I tried calling you repeatedly sometime later between 10.27-10.30pm, but unfortunately, there was no response from your number as well,” the letter points out.
Sanghi ends his letter with hope that the commissioner will act promptly and provide feedback after inquiring into the aspect highlighted by him. “I would be interested in knowing the result of your inquiry,” the judge wrote.
While sharing his letter with the HC chief justice, Sanghi said that the facts were self-explanatory and urged her to consider if the issue could be treated as a PIL fit for the court’s intervention.
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