New Delhi: The city is preparing a dedicated Student Safety App for women students that will allow them to send an SOS alert to the police and family members, share their live location and report unsafe spots around their colleges.
Police patrols, Pink Booths near colleges
The app is being planned after the gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir. The park is around 2 kilometres from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women. The steps taken for students will be reviewed every 15 days, according to the plan discussed at the meeting.
The plan was discussed at a meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu with Delhi University officials, principals of women’s colleges and senior officers from the police, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Public Works Department (PWD) and other departments. The incident led LSR to hold classes online for a day, while students raised safety issues about routes outside the college campus. The proposed app will give students a direct way to report a problem. A dedicated SOS button will send a real-time alert to the police and the user’s family. Students will also be able to share their live location with friends and relatives when they feel unsafe. Another feature will allow students to report dark spots based on their own experiences. This will help authorities identify poorly lit or unsafe stretches around colleges and take action. The app is also expected to provide access to the nearest police Pink Booth and the nodal officer assigned to the college. The administration has asked departments to increase police patrolling around sensitive areas and add more Pink Booths near colleges. Police presence will also be increased during evening hours. This will allow officials to check whether lighting repairs, police patrols, Pink Booths, transport measures and other safety steps have been implemented around the colleges.
