Girls and young women in Delhi University colleges and schools across the Capital will soon be familiarised with Delhi Police’s Himmat app, which allows users to send an SOS in case of an emergency.
The app was launched on January 1 after several incidents of women being assaulted while travelling alone in the city were reported. A woman who took an Uber cab in December 2014 was allegedly raped by the driver, again highlighting the lack of safety. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded 43,669 times. However, it had only 8,482 registered users as of June 30.
Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi said 3,646 SOS messages had been received through the app. A total of 2,346 messages were from Delhi, 322 from the NCR, 968 from other parts of the country and 10 from abroad.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations and Communications) O.P. Mishra said each SOS received a response. “Our officials call back on the numbers to find out if the user needs assistance. If there is no answer, a PCR van is sent to the location,” said Mr. Mishra. Since the app lets users send an alert through shortcuts like shaking the phone, many SOS messages turn out to be mistakes.
“We only know if it is a genuine emergency when we call back. Till now, there have been 12 instances where substantive legal action was taken,” said Mr. Mishra.
In an SOS received from North-East Delhi, a woman said she feared her in-laws would burn her as they had been harassing her over dowry. A PCR van was sent to the spot and action was taken. “We have a hotline with the police forces of NCR towns, so we pass along the SOS messages from their areas immediately,” said Mr. Mishra.
