The safety of women in our country has always been on priority. With many recent incidents of crime against women, the government has taken many measures to ensure their safety.
In the backdrop of this, a post is going viral on social media claiming that the Maharashtra government has taken an initiative called the ‘Free Ride Scheme’ for women. It further says that if there is no vehicle available for women to go home then they can call on Police helpline number 1091 or 7837018555 and ask for a vehicle. The control room or PCR vehicle will reach the caller and drop her at home.
Fact Check-
A keyword search on Google, led us to the Hindustan Times report published on 1 December 2019. According to the report, the Ludhiana police have launched a free night pickup and drop facility in the city for the safety of women. Ludhiana police have 28 SHO vehicles, 110 PC motorcycles, and 10 vans. According to the Commissioner of Police, this facility is available for any woman who failed to get a transport vehicle to return home between 10 pm to 6 am. This initiative was taken after a gang rape incident in Hyderabad.
Further, when Fact Crescendo contacted Rakesh Agarwal, the then Police Commissioner of Ludhiana, he said that women should contact the helpline number 1091 or 7837018555 if there is no arrangement to go home late at night. The women will be taken home safely in a police vehicle.
The same message went viral in Bangalore four years ago. The Bangalore City Police then refuted the viral claims on its official Facebook account and said that strict action would be taken against those spreading such messages.
Are the given numbers available in Maharashtra?
When we searched the number on Google, we found a tweet by the Mumbai police. In the tweet, Mumbai police clarified that the mentioned mobile number in the post is operational in Ludhiana city, Punjab. In Maharashtra, women can dial helpline numbers 103 or 100 or tweet police for prompt action.
Further, we found that in 2019, Nagpur police had started a similar scheme to drop women at home at night. The information about this service was posted on Nagpur Police’s official Twitter handle on 4 December 2019.
The tweet reads, “We are providing a “HOME-DROP” facility for the Safety and Security of Women: Any woman who is alone/stranded, with no means to go home, between 9 pm – 5 am, would be safely escorted by us till her home, FREE of Cost. DIAL 100 or 1091 or 07122561103.”
You can see that the helpline number for the Home drop facility started by Nagpur Police is 7122561103 and not 7837018555 as mentioned in the post.
Conclusion:
This proves that the helpline number mentioned in the post is for the safety of women in Ludhiana City. In Maharashtra, ‘home drop’ for women is running only in Nagpur city. The helpline number for both cities are different.
Title:Ludhiana’s free ride scheme’s helpline number for the safety of women is viral as an initiative by the Maharashtra government.
Written By: Siddharth SahuResult:Partly False
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