The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr. Jai Ram Thakur launched the ‘Shakti’ app for women’s safety.
- The app was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Himachal Pradesh government.
- The Chief Minister also launched the ‘GUDDIYA’ helpline number 1515 and the ‘Hoshiyar Singh’ helpline number 1090.
- The app and the helpline launched were a part of an initiative to fight crimes against women in the state.
Features of the App
- The app would be available in languages like Hindi and English and would not require internet connectivity.
- There is a red colour ‘Shakti’ panic button in the app for women’s safety. Any women, at the time of trouble can press that button to seek help.
- The app will send information like name, phone number location of the women or girl under attack or trouble to the police control rooms of the district concerned and central control room, where some police staff member will receive the message and direct the nearby police to provide immediate help to the victim.
- If the mobile phone is shaken or dropped, it would trigger the app to send its location through GPS to the nearest police station.
- Once triggered, the app would automatically send an emergency message to the nearest police control room and start recording audio and video after 20 seconds.
- The app provides for automatic video and audio recording of the incident of the assault on victim’s mobile handset. These recordings can later be used as evidence against the offenders.
- The app has been launched to help women or girls under threat of criminal or violent acts.
- The ‘Hoshiyar Singh’ helpline would be monitored by the CM’s office in a 24x7 basis, and the government would use information gathered on this helpline to come down heavily on the drug, forest and mining mafias.
