National help line assisting thousands of distressed women

Amjad Hossain of Mirpur faced a predicament that his granddaughter, whom he accompanied to school, was being threatened with kidnapping.

He called 10921, the National Help Line. The local police responded immediately and the problem was resolved.

Far away in Taraganj, Rangpur, 10th-grader Banya was faced with the humiliating prospect of being shown in a porno film after she had gone to a studio to be photographed.

She, too, called the Help Line and was bailed out.

Similarly, thousands of people, mostly women were being served by the National Help Line.

Project director of the multisectoral programme, Dr Abul Hossain, told the news agency that persecuted women were provided all assistance from the National Help Line, also known as the One-Stop-Crisis-Center (OCC).

It provides healthcare, police security, DNA test, social welfare, legal support, mental counseling and shelter to women in need.

The OCC has offices in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, Khulna, Rangpur and Faridpur medical college hospitals. Besides, it has 40 centres in as many district headquarters and 20 outlets at the upazila level.

So far, 36,927 people have used the Help Line for information, 394 have sought medical help, 760 for counseling, 713 for police support, and 2,726 for legal assistance, he said.