Haryana police spread awareness on women safety app Gurugram
Senior police officials visited schools, colleges, institutions and residential areas on Friday and requested all girls and women to download the application, and also get their family members and friends to do the same.
Haryana police carried out an awareness drive to popularise Durga Shakti, a mobile application for women’s safety, at 10 locations in the city on Friday.
Senior police officials visited schools, colleges, institutions and residential areas on Friday and requested all girls and women to download the application, and also get their family members and friends to do the same. They said that they are making efforts to popularise the app and want the maximum number of women to download it.
Usha Kundu, assistant commissioner of police, said the teams visited different places and briefed people about the application and its key features, and how it can play an important role in terms of their safety and security.
“The app will enable women in the city to seek the help of the police through the women helpline number,1091, in case of an emergency. The app can be downloaded for free on smartphones and will help women in distress to alert the police instantly. The app is linked to the police control room and with the six newly launched patrolling vehicles in the city,” Kundu said. The app is available only on Android devices for now but will be introduced for iPhones shortly, she said.
Crime against women has been one of the major challenges for the police, with 1024 cases registered in 2017 and 446 this year, between January and July 30.
Anil Yadav, assistant commissioner of police (DLF) Gurugram, said, “The app also consists of a ‘panic button’ in case one is not in a position to make a call. After five minutes of pressing the panic button, the Durga Shakti PCR will respond and arrive at the given location. The next version of the application will also be able to track the location of the caller,” Yadav said.
The police have six vehicles for ‘Durga Shakti Rapid Action Force’ to check crime against women across the city which is stationed at major locations.
The police said it is mandatory to register once on the mobile app. The victim does not need to speak. Once the red button is pressed, she can send information about her GPS location, blood group and other details in form of a WhatsApp message to the Women Helpline number. The victim can also speak to the operator at the helpline number. A total of 56 PCR vans are exclusively working for the Durga Shakti App in the whole of Haryana out of which six vehicles had been allotted in Gurugram.