Call legal aid and the likely police station or district control room. Ask for the BNSS section 37 designated officer and arrest information.
15100Legal-aid helplineFast help during a protest
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Choose one for the next useful action.
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National numbers such as 112 and 15100 work everywhere in India.
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Get safe. Get medical help. Tell one trusted person.
112Emergency responseCall now — works without internet or balance
102Ambulance — Delhi (CATS)Free. No answer? Call 112.
108Ambulance — MumbaiFree. No answer? Call 112.
15100Legal-aid helplineRequest urgent guidance
- Move away from immediate danger. Do not stay to complete this page.
- Seek hospital care. No hospital — government or private — may refuse emergency treatment. You are entitled to have a medico-legal case (MLC) registered: the official record of your injuries for any later complaint. Note that an MLC means the police are informed. If registered, note the MLC number and keep treatment records and prescriptions.
- Send your location to one trusted person. Include your name, location, time and the help needed.
- Protect other people. Do not publish faces, phone numbers, medical records or live locations without consent.
Government hospitals near the protest area: RML Hospital (Baba Kharak Singh Marg, near Jantar Mantar) · Lady Hardinge (Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg) · LNJP (Delhi Gate)
Government hospitals near the protest area: St George (opp. GPO, near CSMT) · JJ Hospital (Byculla — largest) · GT Hospital (L.T. Marg) · Cama Hospital (opp. Azad Maidan — women and children only)
Tear gas, heat, crowd crush, panic — quick first aid
- Tear gas: move to fresh air. Rinse eyes with plain water for 10–15 minutes; remove contact lenses; do not rub. Do not use milk. Remove and bag contaminated clothing; wash skin with soap and water. (CDC and clinical guidance)
- Heat: move to shade, sip water. Confusion, hot dry skin or fainting is an emergency — call 112 and cool the person with wet cloths and fanning. (WHO guidance)
- Dense crowds: know your exits, stay near the edges, keep your arms in front of your chest; if you fall, curl up and protect your head.
- Panic: breathe in and out slowly, counting to five. It usually passes in minutes.
14416 — Tele-MANAS mental-health line: free, 24×7, 20 languages.
Detained or missing
First decide: suspected police custody, or genuinely missing?
Use Delhi Police's missing-person helpline. Do not use 1094 merely to confirm a suspected arrest.
1094Missing persons — Delhi PoliceZIPNET — Delhi Police online missing-person search (needs internet).
Report at any police station and call the Mumbai Police control room. The Maharashtra Police citizen portal has an online search for missing and for arrested persons — listings can lag by hours, and absence from the portal does not mean the person is not in custody.
022-22621855Mumbai Police control room (city)Report at the nearest police station and call 112. Ask the district control room whether the person is recorded as arrested — every district and police station must keep and display arrest information (BNSS section 37).
112Emergency / policeImmediate danger: 112
Write down these facts
- Full name and safe contact number
- Last confirmed time and exact location
- Police station, unit or vehicle, if known
- FIR, DD, arrest memo or custody reference, if available
- Every station called: time, person spoken to and response
Essential safeguards after arrest
Subject to constitutional exceptions, the arrested person must be told the grounds of arrest — the Supreme Court requires them in writing, in a language the person understands (2025). They have the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of choice, to meet an advocate during interrogation (though not throughout it), and must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours excluding journey time. Ask for the arrest memo; immediate notice to the nominated person of both arrest and place of custody; and a medical examination that records injuries, with a report copy.
If police are investigating an offence punishable by up to seven years, a written notice to appear — not arrest — is the rule (BNSS s.35(3); Supreme Court, 2026). Preventive detention during prohibitory orders works differently: the person must still be told the reason, and detention beyond 24 hours needs separate legal authority.
A woman should not ordinarily be arrested after sunset and before sunrise, except in exceptional circumstances with a magistrate's permission (BNSS s.43(5)), and a woman's medical examination must involve a female practitioner. A minor cannot be kept in a police lockup or jail: they must go before the Juvenile Justice Board within 24 hours, a guardian must be informed, and free legal aid is automatic.
Human help first
Call a legal-aid helpline. Say the urgent fact in one sentence.
15100National legal aid
1800-22-23-24Maharashtra legal services
8591903601Mumbai City DLSA (office hours)
Mumbai Suburban DLSA (Bandra): 8591903602, office hours.
Say this:
“I need urgent legal help for [name]. They were [injured/detained/missing] at [place] around [time]. The last confirmed information is [fact]. Please tell me the next immediate legal step.”
Anyone in custody, and every woman, qualifies for free legal services regardless of income (Legal Services Authorities Act, s.12). In other cases a lawyer depends on eligibility and assessment. Email is not an emergency channel.
Helplines can go unanswered at night. Keep a written log of every call you try (time and number) — and remember the 24-hour magistrate rule protects an arrested person regardless. In danger, call 112.
legalaidwing-dslsa@nic.inFor eligible Supreme Court matters, SCLSC: 011-23381257 or sclsc@nic.in.
One accurate record
Record facts once. Share them privately with a lawyer or authority.
Nothing typed here is uploaded or saved by this site.
Keep the original photo or video unchanged on the device that recorded it. A WhatsApp forward must not be your only copy — forwarding strips technical detail (metadata) that helps prove authenticity.
Fields marked * are required. Use a private device when possible.
After immediate needs are handled
Send the record to the right place.
Serious Delhi Police misconduct
For death or grievous hurt in custody, rape or attempted rape in custody, arrest or detention without due process, extortion, land or house grabbing, or serious abuse of authority. Complaints by a victim or representative should be signed and supported by a sworn affidavit; anonymous complaints are excluded.
Email is only an intake method—not proof of registration. Ask for acknowledgment and call to confirm. Postal: Police Complaints Authority, 10th Floor, Chanderlok Building, Janpath, New Delhi 110001.
Serious police misconduct — Mumbai
For custodial violence or serious abuse by police in Maharashtra, complain to the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (an inquiry body — it recommends, it cannot punish directly) or to the NHRC below. Maharashtra's statutory Police Complaints Authority currently has no official website or verified public intake channel.
MSHRC: 9, Hajarimal Somani Marg, opposite CSMT, Mumbai 400001.
Serious police misconduct
Use the NHRC route below, your State Human Rights Commission, and your state's Police Complaints Authority where one functions. A lawyer or the legal-services authority (15100) can advise which forum fits your case.
Human-rights complaint involving a public servant
For a violation or abetment by a public servant, or public-servant negligence in preventing one. NHRC is not emergency dispatch. It ordinarily screens out matters older than one year, sub judice, vague or anonymous complaints and service matters. Its actions are principally inquiries, recommendations, interim-relief recommendations or court approaches—not guaranteed compensation or prosecution.
Court action or release from unlawful custody
Speak to a lawyer or legal-services authority. An email to a court does not file a case or automatically invoke Article 32.
If someone is held unlawfully, a family member can ask the High Court for habeas corpus — a lawyer or the legal services authority can help file it quickly.
False claims, device seizure, journalists under threat
Check or report a viral claim with an established fact-checker (WhatsApp tiplines): BOOM +91-77009-06588 · Alt News +91-76000-11160 · Factly +91-92470-52470. PIB Fact Check (+91-87997-11259) is the government's own fact-check channel for claims about the central government. Messaging a tipline shares your phone number with that organization.
Phone or account seized, content ordered down, or an internet shutdown: SFLC.in's RightsLine offers free digital-rights help.
Journalists facing threats or detention for their work can write to the Committee to Protect Journalists' emergency desk.
Prepare for weak or no internet
Save the essentials before you need them.
If mobile internet is shut down
- Shutdown orders usually stop mobile data while voice calls and person-to-person SMS keep working — but near a police action even calls can fail. Never make a phone call your only plan.
- Calling 112 needs no internet and no balance. The 112 phone app does need internet — do not rely on the app during a shutdown.
- Fix a meeting point and check-in times that work with no network at all, and keep numbers on paper.
Prepare before you go (2 minutes)
- Charge and back up your phone.
- Write key numbers on paper: 112, legal aid, one trusted person.
- Agree a meeting point and fixed check-in times with family or friends.
- Use a strong PIN; consider switching off fingerprint/face unlock and lock-screen message previews for the day.
- Check what auto-uploads from your phone (photos/cloud) before recording anything sensitive.
- Do not post live locations of yourself or others; share after leaving the area, minding faces and consent.
How offline use works
- Open this site once while connected; supported browsers will keep the essential page for offline use.
- Download or screenshot the emergency card and keep the numbers on paper.
- Agree on a meeting point, check-in time and one trusted contact before entering a crowd.
- This site cannot send a message or call when connectivity is unavailable.