Women safety gadgets still under discussion

Alappuzha: Even though the number of cases of assault against women is up by the day, the electronic gadgets mooted by the Government for their protection, on International Women’s Day last year, are yet to see the light of day. 

The project initiated by the Panchayat and Social Justice Ministry about ten months ago, is still being discussed by the Planning Board. The move was for providing safety gadgets which would act in seconds when a woman was in danger or any sort of trouble. 

Introducing the project in March this year, Minister for Panchayats and Social Justice, M.K. Muneer said the Government had received plans for developing an electronic bangle and several varieties of SIM cards, which when activated, would send an SOS to the nearest police station or to Women Jagratha Samithis.

“We plan to use these gadgets as a pilot project to check their efficacy. Before we decide on such things, we will take women into confidence to see if they are willing to carry this forward. We will not impose anything on them,” Muneer said.

A senior official with the Women’s Development Corporation said the issue would be discussed at the Planning Board meeting to be held on November 26. The corporation was taking this issue with utmost seriousness as women were becoming victims of violence. A concrete decision in this regard was likely to come up at the meeting, the official said.

State project officer of the Nirbhaya scheme, Shaniza Beegam said the project was still on paper. According to National Crime Records Bureau figures in 2012 there’s been a climb in the number of cases of crime in Kerala, fetching it the seventh place, with a record 1,58,989 cases.

Around 23,87,188 IPC cases were registered last year. In 2011, the IPC crime rate was 192.2 for every one lakh population. In 2012, it rose to 196.7, marking an increase of 2.3 percentage points. Among the cities, Kochi is on top with a rate of 817.9 and Kollam comes fourth with a rate of 637.3.