Desperation knows no bounds. A helpline, 181 Abhayam, started by the Gujarat government for women in distress, is being used by 'harassed' men to pour their hearts out.
In a startling revelation, it was found that almost 25 percent of the calls in the last six months were made by men, reports The Times of India.
Seeking help for a peaceful reconciliation between wife and mother, constant nagging and threats of filing domestic violence complaints were some of the reasons for making the calls.
Narendrasinh Gohil, Abhayam project head, told The Times of India, "Our call analysis showed that majority of men complained of a demanding wife who failed to understand their financial capacity. Then there are callers who want us to intervene in tiffs between their wives and mothers."
The staff of the helpline however claim to be helpless in many instances, saying that apart from providing therapy over the phone to the men and talking to their wives, not much else that could be done from their side.
According to sources at 181 Abhayam, a false complaint of domestic violence and demand of dowry was allegedly filed by a woman in September last year. The caller, Anand, said that strife between his wife and mother led to the complaint, which was exaggerated in nature.
"We have trained our executives to handle women's problems. We were not ready for taking calls from men but as numbers started increasing we understood that the trend is here to stay," said Roma Jamshed, head of the 181 Abhayam team.
