Inquiry ordered into suicide attempt by helpline employee

Delhi government today ordered an inquiry into alleged suicide attempt by an employee of the women's helpline who consumed sleeping pills and accused the helpline's in-charge of harassing her.
According to senior government official, the 25-year-old victim has accused the in-charge of the helpline of being abusive and insulting. The in-charge, on the other hand, says she has evidence to prove that the woman and another colleague had tried to sabotage the system.
Officials said that the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) ordered an inquiry as the helpline comes under them.
WCD Minister Sandeep Kumar has directed that the truth behind the incident be ascertained and strict action taken against the person/agencies responsible for the incident.

"He has taken a serious note of the incident since the 181-helpline for women is crucial for registering complaints of sexual violence against women and providing counselling to affected women," a senior government official said.
The inquiry will be conducted by the Director Social Welfare and the report submitted to the minister within seven days.

On Wednesday, the helpline employee allegedly consumed sleeping pills while on duty and was rushed to LNJP hospital for treatment. She was shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital on Thursday morning where her statement was recorded.
The helpline in-charge said that on April 27, she found that the outbound conference call code was dialled multiple times, due to which the system crashed.

Currently, all the employees of helpline 181 are on contract. There has been talk of opening it for tender for better services, said a senior official.