The Kanpur police force has rolled out a new SOS mobile app for the protection of women and girls in one of India’s most heavily populated cities. The application is created to help users send an alert to family members as well as the police control room in case they’re faced with any danger.
Calling an Android app SOS is a very good way of making sure people didn’t find it in Google Play Store since there are half a dozen or more tools in the virtual marketplace which are named similarly. But rest assured, you will eventually stumble upon it since the Kanpur police say they’ve released the safety application.
A post on Press Trust of India reports Kanpur SSP, K S Emanuel, as explaining that the reason the SOS app exists is to bring down the number of crimes against women and eve teasing. The subject of security of the female population in India rose to prominence and has been staying in the news following the brutal molestation and eventual death of a 23-year old physiotherapy intern in a Delhi bus in 2012.
Related post: BJP does its bit to ensure women’s safety in India with Raksha Android app in Google Play Store
A company called Extentia also developed an SOS application for Android which won the 2014 South West India Manthan award for e-Women & Empowerment in the past week. In March, the BJP launched a Raksha app for women’s safety which has a one-press alert button for notifying others when stuck in distressing situations. And even before that, a Microsoft Guardian tool for Windows Phone devices was released with the same purpose in mind.
The Kanpur police have only announced the SOS mobile app for Android devices at present. But there’s a possibility of the application being launched for iOS too in the future.