SLUG: ABHAYAM HELPLINE
Ahmedabad: The CCTV footage from outside her residence revealed the truth about a 15-year-old girl’s claim that she was not involved in the theft of a safe from her home. The safe contained valuables worth Rs 1.5 lakh. When she denied any involvement, her father called the police to investigate. The primary investigation indicated that the girl’s ‘boyfriend’, a college dropout, allegedly instigated her to steal from her house so they could indulge in ‘fun activities’.
Counsellors at the Abhayam 181 helpline for women reported that they received an average of two complaints daily in 2024, totalling 655 calls under the category of ‘parenting issues‘. This represents a 40% increase year-on-year, against 467 calls received in 2023 from Ahmedabad.
Across Gujarat, the increase was relatively smaller at 13%, with cases rising from 1,801 to 2,030 during the same period.
“Calling a helpline is, of course, an act of distress. In the majority of cases, it is the mother who calls for the well-being of their daughter. One of the biggest complaints is about their excessive use of smartphones. It is either to binge-watch web series or to chat incessantly on social media. The cases often come to light when their grades start to suffer in school,” said a counsellor.
“In a recent instance from a western city area, a girl was chatting simultaneously with nearly 10 boys or entities online. In another instance, a girl threatened to harm herself if her phone was taken away. If basic counselling does not work, we often recommend seeking the help of a psychologist or psychiatrist.”
City-based experts said that the generation gap, along with the communication gap between parents and children, often causes the rift. “In the case of working parents, the children feel alienated if communication is not good. At a young age, the notion of good and bad is often fluid, and seemingly rebellious activities are for seeking adventure or fun. The child must have a sense of belonging so that he or she does not seek validation from strangers,” said a city-based psychologist working closely with schools. “Such cases should be handled with utmost care and understanding so that the teens develop into mentally healthy adults.”