To help women facing the domestic violence during lockdown, the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate has started online counseling helpline for such women through teleconferencing.

Divulging the details on Monday, the Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that due to lockdown the complaints regarding domestic violence amongst women were pouring in.

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He said that to redress such complaints and ensure the safety and security of the women the Commissionerate Police has constituted a special panel under Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, D Sudharvizhi.

Bhullar said a sub inspector rank officer Monica Arora would be heading the panel with two assistant sub inspectors Asha Kiran and Suman Bala.

The Commissioner of Police said that apart from three police officers equal number of psychiatrists Dr Jasbir Kaur, Dr Sarabjit Singh and Rajbeer Kaur would be holding the counseling of the complainant.

He said that as due to lockdown it was not possible for the complainant to move easily and pursue the case, so this decision has been taken by the Commissionerate Police.

Bhullar said that if any women complaints about her problem to the Commissionerate then this panel would contact her on the phone.

The Commissioner of Police said that through conference call the panel would undertake counseling of the aggrieved woman and find the solution of her problem.

He said that if the woman was not satisfied through the counseling and the was seeking legal remedy for herself than the law would take its own course. Bhullar said that the basic idea was to facilitating the distressed women for securing justice in the cases pertaining to domestic violence.

With couples spending more time together due to the on-going lockdown, Punjab has registered a massive increase in complaints of domestic violence against women.

Figures show that there has been a 21 per cent increase (from 4709 to 5695) in total cases of crime against women (CAW) between February and April 20, and a similar percentage of increase in cases of domestic violence against women (from 3287 to 3993) in the same period.