Odisha Commissionerate Police to Launch App for Women's Safety

Taking a cue from Delhi Police, the Commissionerate Police in Odisha's twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack is all set to launch a mobile application which will help women in distress.

The safety app will allow women to call or send a message to the police control room (PCR) and three of their relatives in case of any emergency.

The Delhi Police launched a mobile application called 'Himmat' on January 1 to help distressed women, particularly working women travelling alone late in the night.

"We are going to launch a mobile app for safety of women in the twin city. It will basically provide safety to employed women in distress who have Android-based smartphones," said Police Commissioner R.P. Sharma Wednesday.

He said the app is being developed after a thorough study on 'Himmat' project launched by the Delhi Police.

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"We are working on the project to launch it in the month of March this year. It is a cost effective project," he added.

Explaining the functioning of the app, Sharma said after downloading it a new user has to register with the Commissionerate Police website by mentioning the name, mobile number and minimum of two relatives/ friends.

Once the user registers, she will get an SMS on the registered mobile number at the time of registration with a download link and registration key. After that, the user has to enter this key in the registration window in the application.

"The user can alert the relatives and the police control room, in case of an emergency, by shaking her phone or by pressing the power button/soft button. Once the distress button is pressed, the camera of the phone will automatically start video recording for at least 30 seconds, which will be transmitted to the PCR and the victim will get a call back from the PCR," said Sharma.

An SMS alert will also be sent to three relatives of the user in distress with exact location of the victim.

Meanwhile, about 2,000 people have downloaded the present mobile application of Commissionerate Police launched on January 15.

The app has various help-lines like emergency number (100), women helpline (1091), traffic helpline (1095), important phone numbers, know your police station, traffic, senior citizen, women security cell, email, social media and download forms.