Dial 100 defunct in Alwar for a year, HC seeks to know why

The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday sought to know from state home department why the emergency police helpline number 100 has remained defunct in Alwar for a year. The court issued notices to principal secretary (Home), director general of police, and Alwar superintendent of police asking them to reply by April 16.

The court of Justice KS Jhaveri issued notices on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Ravi Saini, 29, of Alwar, said Aditya Jain, counsel for the petitioner.

Saini, in his petition, said the issue was of gross neglect of the safety and security of the people of Alwar. The petitioner cited three separate instances when he failed to connect with the Alwar police as the emergency helpline number was not functioning.

“On October 15, 2017, I saw several illegal mining being carried out in forest area in Vijay Mandir locality of Alwar, in contravention of several guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and statutory bodies. I dialed ‘100’ but the call went to police control room of Udaipur. When I tried to dial 100 again, the number did not connect,” Saini said.

The petitioner tried to call the helpline again on November 13, 2017, to report an incident of fighting in Alwar, but yet again the emergency number didn’t connect. Saini again tried to report an incident of sexual harassment around the midnight on December 31, 2017, but the helpline wasn’t working.

The petitioner said he filed an application under the RTI Act seeking information from the office of superintendent of police, Alwar, about the emergency helpline number 100. In reply, the district police told him that the number was dysfunctional since January 25, 2017.

Saini, a practicing lawyer at the Rajasthan high court, then sent a notice for demand of justice to the respondents (DGP and Alwar SP) to make the helpline number functional, but till date nothing has been done in the said regard. Following this, he filed the PIL petition.