1.36 crore 'silent' calls received by child helpline in 3 years

Of over 3.4 crore calls received by child helpline 1098 between April 2015 and March this year, as many as 1.36 crore were "silent" calls where background sounds were audible and the caller remained on phone for a few minutes but did not say anything, indicating a muted cry for help.

"These silent calls are taken very seriously by those manning 1098," said Harleen Walia from Childline India Foundation. Data showed that the number of silent calls increased from over 27 lakh in 2015-16 to more than 55 lakh in 2016-17. It was over 53 lakh in 2017-18.

"In case of silent calls, those manning the helpline have instructions to give inputs that generate confidence in the caller to speak or share details," Walia said.


Silent callers are likely to be children or even adults who may call back again and can indicate a troubled child or one in distress. "A child rarely speaks in the first session and the counsellor speaks to build trust and draw out children. Similarly, the silent caller is seen to be in that sort of a situation and the aim is to build trust," Walia said.

Interestingly, calls seeking emotional support and help due to stressful family situations like separation of parents and dysfunctional homes are also rising, and often relate to more affluent homes.

Of the over 3.4 crore calls, the helpline's intervention added up to just over 6 lakh. This may seem small compared to the number of calls but reflects a significant number of children who needed help. Data shows calls requiring intervention rose from about 1.7 lakh in 2015-16 to about 2.1 lakh in 2016-17 and about 2.3 lakh in 2017-18.

More than 2 lakh out of these 6 lakh cases were in the category of 'protection from abuse'. As many as 81,147 calls seeking help for this reason was made to the helpline in 2017-18 alone.

The helpline comes under the purview of child protection services scheme of the ministry of women and child development and is implemented through NGO Childline India Foundation which has partners in districts to reach out to children on the ground.

Separate from calls where interventions are required, all calls are categorised including those that are blank, crank and abusive. It is the data on silent calls category that holds the possibility of a child or an adult still trying to make up his or her mind about speaking up and asking for help.

Besides calls for rescue, shelter, missing cases and medical help for children, which is what 1098 has largely been associated with, data showed a rise in calls for 'emotional support and guidance'. Many callers were children or their adult well-wishers from middle-class and upper middle-class families struggling with problems due to dysfunctional homes and situations like divorce of parents.

Over three years, more than 66,000 calls were handled by the helpline where the caller sought emotional support and guidance. The number of such calls rose from 17,828 in 2015-16 to 22,926 the year after and 25,724 in 2017-18.