In an era where we can see a shift in how policing works, another initiative has been taken to ensure women’s safety with the help of technology. This time it comes from the ‘God’s Own Country’, Kerala, where an app called Nirbhayam has been launched to ensure that information regarding imminent threat to women reaches the police instantaneously.
The app was launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on 5 February 2021. But the officer who is the mastermind behind ideating this idea is Mr. Vijay S Sakhare, currently serving as the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Kochi, Kerala.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, the 1996-batch IPS officer discussed about how the idea came in at the first place and how it has been designed to enhance women’s safety in the whole of Kerala.
THE GENESIS
Mr. Sakhare, while speaking about how he got the idea, said “I was working on the app for the past one and a half years, and it was ready before Covid-19 entered our country. Due to the pandemic, I couldn’t launch it early.”
“I thought of creating a platform wherein if a lady is being assaulted or attacked, can immediately pass an alert message to the police without any information to the assailant. Based on the ideation and the requirements, we took help of some professional developers and came out with this app,” he added.
The app was launched on February 5, 2021 and is now a freely available for download, from both App Store and Google Play.
HOW DOES IT WORK
Speaking about how the app operates, Mr. Sakhare said “Women can easily download this app on both IOS and Android mobile phones. If a woman is in distress or under any threat, she just has to open the widget and press and hold the ‘Help Button’ or the SOS button for five seconds. The app automatically sends the location of ‘woman needing help’ to the nearest police control room/police station.”
The app also provides the option to send text and audio messages. Not only this, but the women in distress can also share pictures and videos to the police discreetly, which can be later used as evidence to punish the assailant.
Send images or video Help Button Audio message
Mr. Sakhare said, “The beauty of this application is that once the women has started the process of sending a message, the assailant can’t stop it even if he is aware of it and tries to snatch away the phone. Unlike other applications, this app does not require an internet connection to send an alert to the police, as the message can also be sent via SMS.”
Asking how this app is qualitatively different from other similar measures adopted by the police to check crime against women, Mr. Sakhare said, “Earlier, a woman in distress had to physically call the police which is quite difficult because in most of the cases the assailant doesn’t let that happen. Secondly, it is very difficult for the woman to give the exact location to the police at such a time when she is being attacked or assaulted. So, this app helps the women in every way possible, empowers them to send an alarm to the police quickly, and does so without alerting the assailant and also ensuring a quick response. In a way, it creates a protective ‘shield’ around the women.’’
AWARENESS
The Kerala Police has adopted a multi-pronged approach to popularize this particular app., from sharing social media posts on Kerala Police’s official Twitter and Facebook page to asking celebrities to Tweet and share a post about the app on their personal Facebook page. And through an effective network of community policing, also known as ‘Jana Maitri Policing’, the Kerala Police is ensuring that every beat officer goes house to house and makes people download this app.
The app is also being popularized through schools, residents’ associations, Student Police Cadet (SPC), Women Cells etc. The Kerala police is also seeking permission from the censor board to promote the app before the movie plays in movie theaters, so that it reaches to a wider set of people.
The response to the app has been phenomenal. Within six hours of launch, it was downloaded about to 30,000 times. Since then, it’s going from strength to strength.
