الرئيسية
A smartphone app launched Wednesday in the Indian capital Delhi aims to
fight a rise in sexual assault cases by enabling women to immediately
alert friends or family if they feel at risk.
The ‘Fight Back’
app created by Indian non-profit Whypoll will – at the press of a single
key – send an SOS message via text message, email and Facebook.
Once the SOS is activated, recipients will be able to track the sender’s location via GPS and come to her aid.
“I
grew up in Delhi and it’s always been an unsafe city. And it just keeps
getting worse. As a woman, you just don’t feel comfortable on the
roads,” Whypoll co-founder Shweta Punj told AFP.
“I was disgusted by the violence and wanted to do something about it.”
Delhi
now tops the list of India’s most unsafe cities for women, with 489
reported rape cases in 2010, up from 459 in 2009, according to police
statistics.
India’s rapid economic growth has thrown open new job
opportunities for women, but many feel at risk of harassment or assault
while travelling on their own to and from work.
In a 2010 survey
by the Delhi government, the United Nations and women’s rights group
Jagori (Wake Up Women), 45 percent of women said they avoided stepping
out alone after dark and 65 percent feared taking public transport.
fight a rise in sexual assault cases by enabling women to immediately
alert friends or family if they feel at risk.
The ‘Fight Back’
app created by Indian non-profit Whypoll will – at the press of a single
key – send an SOS message via text message, email and Facebook.
Once the SOS is activated, recipients will be able to track the sender’s location via GPS and come to her aid.
“I
grew up in Delhi and it’s always been an unsafe city. And it just keeps
getting worse. As a woman, you just don’t feel comfortable on the
roads,” Whypoll co-founder Shweta Punj told AFP.
“I was disgusted by the violence and wanted to do something about it.”
Delhi
now tops the list of India’s most unsafe cities for women, with 489
reported rape cases in 2010, up from 459 in 2009, according to police
statistics.
India’s rapid economic growth has thrown open new job
opportunities for women, but many feel at risk of harassment or assault
while travelling on their own to and from work.
In a 2010 survey
by the Delhi government, the United Nations and women’s rights group
Jagori (Wake Up Women), 45 percent of women said they avoided stepping
out alone after dark and 65 percent feared taking public transport.