Police app gets 1,500 SOS texts from women, only two genuine

 More than 1,500 SOS messages have been received so far through Delhi Police’s mobile safety app ‘Himmat’, but only two of those cases turned out to be genuine. Police on Wednesday claimed they responded suitably and swiftly to both the cases.

The first genuine case was received from Sonepat in Haryana. Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said the local police there was alerted and told to help the girl who complained of being troubled by a boy.

The other SOS message was sent by a Delhi woman who was troubled by her in-laws. “This case was duly attended by our men and the victim was provided all help,” said Bassi.
In all, 1,589 SOS messages have been received since the launch of the Android application on January 1 this year. Of these, 1,029 alerts were raised by Delhi women while 159 were from NCR. Women from other countries sent eight messages.

While the application has been downloaded 30,000 times, 5,360 women have registered themselves with the Delhi police for the service. Users have to necessarily register with the police before the application can be of assistance.

Bassi revealed these statistics on Wednesday while launching the ‘Himmat’ WhatsApp group through which women travelling by public transport can send photographs and other details of the vehicle before boarding it. Bassi said Delhi women can now send photographs of the registration number plate of autos, cabs or buses before they board the vehicles.

“In case of an emergency, they can also send distress messages if required,” he said. The details are required to be sent in a fixed format that requires the passenger name, vehicle type, its registration number and the boarding spot and destination details.

The WhatsApp group on mobile number 8800001091 will also be available on Hike, another messenger application. Efforts are also on to make the service available on phones running on iOS and Windows, said Bassi. The service intends to make women feel safer and provide police a record.

The Centre and state governments have been urged to introduce self-defence programmes in the elementary curriculum of schools.

“We have already trained 15,000 girls so far this year and we have requested both the Centre and state government to make self-defence training compulsory for girls from class third and fourth onwards so that when they reach class ten, that is, when they become most vulnerable, they can become so strong that they can fight an assailant in an emergency situation,” said Bassi.