Disha app – Help at women\'s fingertips

Visakhapatnam: Housewives are mostly utilising the Disha app launched by the state government for the protection of women.

The state police received 850 actionable calls from various corners of the state. Over 160 calls including 19 from Vizag went to the FIR level. The app has been downloaded by about 17 lakh smartphone users till date since its launch in February 2020.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, State Disha Special Officer Deepika Patil said: “A lot of actionable calls have been by housewives over domestic violence or disputes. The users were so far more from cities than rural areas."

Vizag city ACP (Disha) G. Prem Kajal said they identified 25 vulnerable locations along the city beach and other isolated places to keep a tab on the people who misbehave with women. Most of them are tourist places, she said. "We have even started conducting online orientation programmes for college students. We have registered 19 FIRs in the city and most of the cases are of domestic violence," she added.

An instance of how quickly the police are responding to calls of distress. Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha recently tested the functioning of the app from an event at Nallapadu Zilla Parishad High School in Guntur district.

In front of the minister, an engineering student Dodda Tejaswini, who downloaded the app, pressed the SOS button. She received a call within 30 seconds from the call centre. The district police office called her within another 30 seconds. A lady constable Shaik Fatima and patrolling vehicle reached the student location in two minutes.

The app is easy to be used even by an illiterate. Once it is installed on a smartphone, one has just to turn ‘Hand Gesture’ feature on. The user can operate it in an emergency by just shaking the phone three times. The location of the phone reaches nearby police along with a 10-second audio and video clip, which are automatically recorded. The police can rush to the victim within minutes.

READY TO RESPOND

·       App downloaded by 17 lakh

·       850 actionable calls so far

·       160 FIRs registered across AP

·       19 FIRs filed in Visakhapatnam

·       25 vulnerable points in Vizag beach

WHAT ONE HAS TO DO

·       Download the app

·       Put ‘hand gesture’ on

·       Shake phone thrice in need

·       Or, press the SOS button