: “I did not want to send my daughter to Delhi to study as people kept insisting that it was not safe for women. But I let her go after she promised that she would call every day and even showed me that she had downloaded a ‘safety app’ that she could use if she got into trouble,” said Narayan Raju from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.
“Thankfully, my phone never rang, but I get some solace from the fact that she can signal me in times of distress,” Mr. Raju added.
Since December 16, 2012, a slew of safety applications for women have been launched, which provide users the option of pressing a panic button to alert pre-set contacts if they find themselves in trouble. These apps can even be activated from a locked screen by pressing the power button of a phone repeatedly. On doing so, an alert is sent providing the GPS location of the person in trouble.
Awareness must
Kanika Dua, a college student, said: “The route from my college to the metro station is deserted. All my friends who take the route have some sort of ‘panic app’ on their phones. We know that we can call for help by pressing the power button.”
