The safecity.in website is making waves with women, reports Deebashree Mohanty
There is a still a long way to go before we can create a world completely safe for women. But we are trying to improve general conditions by taking help of each and every sector. Nowadays with advanced technology it has become easier for us to track down the creeps,” Elsa D’Silva the founder of safecity.in, tells you. She adds that social media has allowed women to speak out and warn others of dangerous areas, even if they are reluctant to give their name or make a complaint to the police. D Silva and three other businesswomen set up safecity.in, a website for victims of harassment to channel their anger.
“Basically, the site encourages women to ‘Pin the Creeps’ by reporting incidents of harassment and abuse. We have many categories on the website — catcalling, whistling to rape. These are added to an online map and sent to those requesting alerts about the place they are going to visit,” D Silva says.
With over 15,000 reports that the website has already gathered in the span of a few months, she is sure that safecity.in is here to make a difference. The concept of the site is that women who face any kind of sexual abuse of harrasment can make a report on the website (through a simple sms, filling a form on the site or calling the toll free number). And that area becomes a hotspot. These hotspots are then pinned on to a map which enables other women users to view and make travel plans accordingly.
“Now you feel more empowered to do something about it, even if it’s just sharing your experience. These hotspots can be seen by law enforcers and other Government employees who wish to take action against the wrongdoers,” D Silva says.
The website has linked up with new mobile app SafeTrac, developed by tech firm Kritilabs and is downloadable for free, which has an SOS button to alert emergency contacts and lets relatives or friends track the user’s journey.
“There are many other applications such as the tracker that are designed to reassure women, especially those working late and travelling alone. The only catch here being that the user needs to be on a mobile Internet and must possess a smartphone that enables her to download this app,” Charu Dhawan, a 21 year old tech student from New Delhi, says.
There are many others like Dhawan who have pinned their abuse onto the map and are hoping that this endeavour would have helped other women and some law enforcers to take the necessary action.
“There have been a lot of applications for women’s safety but this one is most convenient. I was using the FightBack, an application launched by Whypoll which was for a charge some time back. After the infamous Delhi gangrape, the makers have made this application completely free for download. They are also planning to come up with a next generation application which will make it easier for women to report live about their whereabouts. We are eagerly awaiting this app,” Deepti Thakur, a regular visitor at safecity.in, says, adding that such applications on the Internet has increased manifold after the incident of the gangrape.
“I am amazed at the response we have got for this one. Women are aware of their surroundings which is good,” D Silva concludes.