NEW DELHI: To step-up outreach to women facing domestic violence in their homes during the lockdown, the National Commission for Women in addition to its online complaint mechanism has now launched a dedicated whatsapp SOS alert number. Of the 370 complaints registered by NCW between March 23 to April 10, 123 pertain to domestic violence and of these 46 have been received from April 6 to 10.To encourage more women to come forward and report and for those unable to reach out through the online mode, emails and social media, the Commission on Friday activated a WhatsaApp alert number 7217735372 for the period of lockdown and for alerts only pertaining to domestic violence. The complainant can send a whatsapp message alert and the Commission will respond with assistance. It is clearly stated in the NCW public notice that this number is not meant for calls and SMS.Since the lock down came into effect, off the streets, inside homes the ugly face of violence is threatening the safety of many more women caught in abusive relationships. Between March 23 to April 10 besides the 123 women who complained against domestic violence, 117 complained to the Commission seeking help to secure their human right to live a life of dignity. There have also been 21 complaints related to harassment by married women and dowry. During this period NCW has received a total of 11 complaints related to sexual harassment, 11 pertaining to molestation and outraging the modesty of a woman and 10 related to stalking and voyeurism. The Commission has also received 27 complaints related to cyber- crimes.NCW chief Rekha Sharma has been raising concerns over domestic violence since the lockdown came into force. On April 2 she had said that since the lock down “complaints of domestic violence were increasing by the day”. However, she shared that due to the lock down fewer women were willing to report the crime to the police as they are living with abusive husbands and in-laws under one roof and fear they will be tortured further as they are restricted to the house.Earlier this week, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a video message called on governments across the world for urgent measures to address the "horrifying global surge in domestic violence" directed at women and girls amid growing fear and economic and social pressures arising out of the circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He raises concern that in some countries the number of women reaching out to support services for help has doubled.