Indian non-profit launches app to help fight sexual harassment

An innovative smartphone app that allows women to immediately alert friends and family if they feel threatened launched in the Indian Capital, Delhi. The app is aimed at curbing the rising number of sexual assault cases in the city.

The app, called “Fight Back” was created by Indian non-profit organisation Whypoll. Should a woman feel threatened, all she needs to do is tap a single key and Fight Back will reportedly send out an SOS message via SMS, Facebook, and email.

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 said.

“I was disgusted by the violence and wanted to do something about it.”

Delhi is reportedly one of the most unsafe cities for women in India, with around 489 rape cases reported in 2011.

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.

The survey recommended that the city’s police force take a stronger role in defending the rights of women.

Small wonder then that the apps creators chose to make friends and family the main focus of the app – including the Delhi police in the SOS list is an option but not, it seems, one that is likely to be used all that frequently. According to Whypoll co-founder Hindol Sengupta “Indians depend far more on their near and dear ones because we don’t trust the system to help us.”

“Once you send the SOS, your friends and family will take it up with the police and pressure them into doing something.”

Given their limited role, it is also unclear precisely how the Delhi police will handle any SOS messages sent to them via Fight Back.

Sengupta admitted that the success of Fight Back would hinge on the police’s efficiency and willingness to take up reported cases.

“There is no magic solution to this problem, but we are in talks with the police and we hope the app will help them respond fast in such situations.”

The app works on Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and BlackBerry smartphones and costs 100 rupees ($1.90) a year to run.

While the subscription is relatively inexpensive, it does mean the service will be unavailable to those sections of the Indian population who can still only afford feature phones. This situation, however, looks likely to change with the predicted explosion in the Indian smartphone market.

The app is currently only available in English, although its creators intend to expand their offering through the inclusion of a number of indigenous Indian languages by the end of 2012.