The Disha Divyang Suraksha (DDS) programme, launched by the Visakhapatnam City Police, has not only received rave reviews from the city denizens but has also been appreciated by the people and the Police Departments of a number of States across the nation. The Police Departments from various States are now approaching the Commissionerate to learn more about it, so that it can be replicated in their States also.
The DDS, was launched to help the visually challenged and the hearing impaired to communicate with the police during distress as well as lodge a proper complaint.
Speaking to The Hindu, Police Commissioner A. Ravi Shankar said that the visually challenged and the hearing and speech impaired have always been facing a number of problems in lodging their complaints properly and comprehensively.
Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A. Ravi Shankar sensitising the visually challenged on the use of Disha Divyang Suraksha to lodge police complaints. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
To avoid the embarrassment and the hassles, many do not even come to the police to lodge a complaint. But now we have ironed out that system with the introduction of the DDS, he said.
“In the control room and command control centre, we will keep a Braille script book, so that once a visually challenged comes to our police station he or she can be directed to the destination and he or she can use that script to file a complaint. The complaint filed through Braille will be reproduced in text format by an expert and printed through a Braille printer for the inspector and the personnel present at the station to understand the issue and file a proper complaint,” Mr. Ravi Shankar said.
Since the visually challenged can speak, they can also speak to the officer, who is posted exclusively to address such people through the dedicated mobile number.
Once the audio file is recorded, it would be converted into a text FIR by an expert and printed using the dedicated Braille printer, so that the complainant can check and keep a copy of it.
In case of the hearing and speech impaired, they can either video record the complaint in their sign language and send it to the nearest police station or approach the police station in person and file the complaint in sign language. It will be recorded and converted into text by a sign language expert, said Mr. Ravi Shankar.
“We have already visited a few schools for the challenged persons and explained to them and also conducted a few demo classes,” he added.
According to Mr. Ravi Shankar, the response has been good. “We have been receiving calls from various parts of the city and other districts. The complaints range from sexual harassment to land grabbing and from assault to cheating,” he said.
Ever since its launch a few days ago, the total complaints received from Andhra Pradesh was around 74, including about 50 from Visakhapatnam city and 22 form other districts, and about 10 from other States, including from Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and from Rajasthan.
“If the jurisdiction is within the Visakhapatnam Commissionerate, we immediately take action and if it is from other districts or States, we alert the nearest police station or respective control room for further action. Seeing our model, a couple of States such as Uttarakhand and Karnataka, have approached us for more details,” said Mr. Ravi Shankar.
As per a statistics from the Police Commissioner’s office, in India there are about 6.3 crore people with hearing impairment and 1.5 crore people who are visually challenged. In Andhra Pradesh, there are 8 lakhs and 10 lakhs and in Viskhapatnam the numbers are 1 lakh and 1.5 lakh respectively.
Phone number for visually impaired – 73373 24466
Phone number for Hearing and speech impaired – 73374 34422
