HC notice to Centre, Delhi police helpline service

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi Police while taking cognisance of a letter by one of its judges about the "poor" response of 'dial 100' helpline service.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath sought the responses from the union government and the police by July 18, saying it is a "serious issue".

The letter by Justice Vipin Sanghi, also shared with the high court chief justice, was converted into a public interest litigation after the latter took suo motu cognisance of the issue of distress calls going unanswered or put on hold.

In his letter to Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, Justice Sanghi narrated his "poor personal experience" of calling up the helpline on April 29 when he was on way to Vasant Kunj to attend a wedding reception and was stuck in a traffic jam for about 40 minutes.

"Since I could not spot any traffic policeman to manage traffic, I called up 100 number at 10.12 p.m. to inform police about the jam," the letter said.

His calls went unanswered, Justice Sanghi said, adding that he made many attempts and despite holding the call for five minutes, there was no answer.

This despite the helpline being an emergency response mechanism.

The judge even tried to reach Verma on his mobile number but the calls went unanswered.

--IANS

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