Police personnel, who have been deployed to receive calls on the women’s helpline number 9470001390, have been facing a problem of not-so-genuine calls.

The helpline, which was set up in 2010 for women complainants by the city police, is nowadays getting calls that have nothing to do with policing.

“We get a lot of calls from people enquiring about things other than policing. A couple of days ago, someone called to enquire about railway timings. The officer who took the call informed the caller that it was a women’s helpline number but the person sounded desperate. We had to arrange for the railway number for him. There are people who call on the helpline and ask for hospital numbers. If the person calling sounds genuine, we do provide him/her with the number,” a police officer with the helpline service said.

The helpline deals with the problems faced by women like domestic violence, eve-teasing and others. In February 2011, former Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar had said since December 2010, the helpline had received more than 300 distress calls from women based in the state, country and even from the UAE.

“It is not that we don’t get genuine calls. On an average, we get at least four to five calls everyday but most of them are queries. Many people ask for the mobile number of station house officers. Giving these numbers are easier. But ultimately, it is a women’s helpline and is meant to redress the problems faced by the women,” Ranjita Kumari, the in-charge of the helpline service, said.

The officer added that nowadays, the women callers mostly complain about crank calls and getting lewd text messages.“Women often call up to say that they are harassed by lewd text messages and crank calls. Earlier, most of the complaints were related to fights between wife and husband. Also girls complained about their lovers refusing to marry them.

“Now, girls complain about receiving calls from strangers and even getting vulgar text messages. Most complainants calling at the helpline nowadays say if they answer calls from unknown numbers and tell the caller that he has dialled a wrong number, the caller continues to harass them. If the call is not answered, lewd text messages follow,” the officer said.