SOS services instilling confidence in women

Using apps and social media, police and BMTC have developed quicker ways to help women in distress

The BMTC, Bengaluru police and Railway Protection Force have launched apps and services with women’s safety in view. Metrolife finds out how they work.

Police app with quick-response features

Suraksha

Android, iOS app

Bengaluru police

In three years, the Suraksha app, run by the Bengaluru police, has received 18,629 complaints.
“We get more than 700 calls on the app in a day. The app can be used by anybody in distress,” a senior police officer told Metrolife. Most cases are reported between 11 pm and 2 am, and are from women working on night shifts or facing

domestic violence.

Quick response is possible because the app is integrated with 158 police stations across the city, which in turn, are connected to 272 Hoysala patrol vehicles. “As soon as we get a call, the jurisdictional police station is alerted and a Hoysala vehicle is rushed to the spot. The location is tracked using Google maps,” explains the officer. Samiksha, a student, has used the app on two occasions.

“My friend and I were walking towards the bus stand after college and we had two bike-borne men slowly riding beside us. I clicked them on the Suraksha app and immediately got a call from the police. The men didn’t know the call was from the police but they sped away,” says Samiksha.

WhatsApp group for train passengers

Shakti helpline 182

WhatsApp group

Railway Protection Force

An all-women security team, attached to the railways and called Shakti, looks into women’s safety and general passenger safety. Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee, RPF Bengaluru divisional security commissioner, says the service, launched last July, has received 5,038 cases till date. “We have two Shakti teams---’Channamma’ and ‘Abbakka’---and each has six women officers. Women’s safety remains our top priority, and we book cases against men who sneak into women’s coaches, harass women and enter reserved coaches without bookings,” explains Debashmita.
Shakti has a WhatsApp group for women who regularly commute between Bengaluru-Mysuru and Bengaluru-Bangarapet.
“These women are office-goers who regularly travel on trains like Chamundi Express, Vishwamanava Express and Tippu Express. They post their concerns on this group and get an immediate response and remedy. There’s no time wasted in attending to the problem,” says Debashmita.
The teams monitor sections ‘black spots’ notorious for chain snatching, robbery and other crimes.

Women who travel between Bengaluru and Mysuru told Metrolife they felt safe connected to groups such as Shakti. Roopa Gunashekar, academic, travels to Mysuru thrice a week to teach there. A friend got her added to the Shakti WhatsApp group.

“There are regular alerts on this group. They post information relevant to any woman traveller. We also have women RPF officers who move around and that gives us hope there’s somebody we can run to in case of an emergency,” says Roopa.

Emergency vans to drop women home

BMTC’s Pink Sarathi

Helpline 1800 4251663

Pink Sarathi vans, launched by the BMTC under the Nirbhaya scheme, are out 24/7 keeping an eye out for stranded women. The vans help them get to safety. A helpline attached to the service can be used to complain. BMTC Managing Director C Shikha says the vans also look out for violations. Sarathi vans have resulted in about 6,500 cases being booked a month against bus staff not following rules. The teams look out for route deviation, non-closure of bus doors, early arrivals, and use of mobile phones by drivers. “We have helped drop about 153 women so far. They were either stranded without getting any vehicle to return home or their vehicles had broken down. The idea is to make sure no woman is stranded out late at night with no means to get back home,” says Shika. Sarathi teams patrol bus stops and Metro and railway stations, and also ensure BMTC drivers stop at designated bus stops. “The staff work in three shifts,” she says.
Women like Deepika Rao, a student of evening college, who was dropped home in a Sarathi, says, “Services like this give women who return late at night a lot of confidence. The sight of a patrol van keeps offenders and violators at a distance.”