Helpline for men in distress in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, June 9: For men facing legal trouble due to domestic and other problems, a helpline has been launched to provide them guidance and counselling. In an endeavour to provide 'protection' to men facing law-related problems, Save Indian Family (SIF) - a group of 50 NGOs - has launched its Gujarat chapter and a 'helpline' to help the harassed males.

The helpline 'SIF One- Hope For Men' has been started with a helpline number, which will now be accessible to the men in the city.

"When something wrong happens to women, they are protected. Why not the men? 62 crore men of the country must be protected," Amit Gupta, a men's rights activist and president of NGO 'National Coalition for Men' (NCM), said.

He said their initiative is not only limited to protect married men from women-oriented laws. "In an initiative to save Indian families, people from various states started grouping.

Meanwhile, some virtual forums were also created and in that initiative a need to voice the rights of men also surfaced. To raise their issues, we have started this (helpline)," said Gupta, who claims to be a victim himself of women-oriented laws.

Demonstrating the functioning of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service of the helpline, he said it has already been launched in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Besides, a phone line for Uttar Pradesh, instead of any particular city in that state, has also been launched.

Gupta says their organisation has got 8-9 volunteers in Ahmedabad to take their initiative forward. The helpline will provide a basic understanding to men in distress to protect them from any legal trouble or from any other family or domestic harassment, he said.

The helpline will also tell the caller to attend a weekly meeting in the city so that the "harassed" men can meet and discuss their problems with others, Gupta said.

PTI