Hyderabad: Cyberabad police’s WhatsApp helpline number (9490617444) stands deactivated after it received a flood of messages post the rape and murder of city-based veterinarian Disha under the Cyberabad commissionerate limits on November 27.
No WhatsApp message is getting delivered to this number.
P. Ravindra Prasad, Inspector, IT Cell, Cyberabad confirmed: “After the (rape) incident, we received a lot of messages. They wanted to find out if the number worked or not. It seems WhatsApp saw the spike as something fishy and blocked it,” he said. Interestingly, Cyberabad police are finding it difficult to contact WhatsApp in this regard.
“Since WhatsApp has no contact point or office, all our conversations with them are through email. We expect the number will be up and running in a few days,” inspector Prasad hoped. He, however, clarified that people can make ordinary network calls to the number in times of distress.
App numbIncidentally, this Whatser does not fall under business category. Business accounts are verified by WhatsApp before comprehensive information is given to users messaging to them. Though there are suggestions that a verified business account will give the number more credibility, Prasad feels benefits do not seem worth the effort.
“The features of personal and business WhatsApp accounts are almost the same. Hence, currently, we are not looking at buying a business account,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, an official from Cyberabad police, under condition of anonymity, said the number received too much traffic since it caters to all people across the jurisdiction.
“The number is promoted by the general police network as well as Cyberabad SHE Teams. After the incident, most of the traffic was from women who wanted to contact SHE Teams. If there was a dedicated WhatsApp number for SHE Teams, we wouldn’t have faced this problem,” he maintained. However, Swati Lakra, inspector general (women safety), cautioned against having separate numbers. “Having distinct numbers for SHE Teams will only confuse the public” she felt.
It may be noted that people in Hyderabad commissionerate use WhatsApp number 9490616555 for making similar complaints. This too is a general account available to all people in Hyderabad jurisdiction.
