Team “Blue Rebels”

“Ensuring Women Safety in India”FICCI Strengthening the policing Contest

2013

Team Name “Blue Rebels” signify silent revolutionaries , bringing a change in the society with peace at its core.

Problems that needs to be addressed relating to Women's safety

• Eve Teasing• Trafficking• Safety concerns in village• Safety concerns of Foreign Tourists• Security concerns while travelling• Little awareness about various government plans (includes helpline number etc) • Women are hesitant in sharing information with police , there's a need to

incorporate a concept of FRIEND in the system• Security Concerns relating to home violence• Abduction of City women in villages and vice-versa• Honor killings • Problem of betrayal

To ensure women safety let us first find crudely what are the problems . Few of the first things that comes to ones mind when thought about women safety are:

Lets us bring all the problems under one umbrella and classify it logically for a separate solution for each classification

• Harassment: According to merriam-webster is : To annoy persistently, to create an unpleasant or hostile situation for especially by uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct.

Classification of Harassment To solve a particular problem we must first understand the problem , so we spend some time in classifying and dividing the problems in to various classes.

Problem of Harassment

(A) Continuous over a period

(B) Girl in a condition to

report

(C) Girl isolated (not able to

report)(D) At an unknown time

Note : A,B,C,D Represents different classes in the classification

Elaboration on each class in the classification

Class B(Girl in a condition to report)

Class C(Girl isolated , not able to report)

Class D(At an unknown time)

Eve teasing Trafficking While travelling

Home violence Lack of proper information about government policies

Eve teasing

In Schools , Colleges Honor killings Concerns of Foreign tourist

Betrayal Abduction in villages or cities

Physical Harassment

Has proper means of communication

No means of communication

High probability of having means of communication like cell phone but difficulty in accessing it during the incident

Now how does the crudely stated concerns fit in to the classifications?

Note : Classes are not closed but open classes and the table just demonstrates how different concerns of women safety can be divided

Solutions to various class of problems

• Now after dividing the problem of harassment in to various classes,we propose solution to each class exclusively .

Class B (Girl in a condition to report)

Now question arises what is the problem with the current process of FIR in police station ? And the second question is if there's a problem how can we solve it effectively ?

Problem with current process • Women are hesitant in reporting to police because they feel, if the problem can be solved with the

help of there friends they will be not bothered with all the embarrassment there family will go through.

• Now the above argument can be questioned by some stating that we still observe FIR for the cases of harassment.

• But the number of cases reported are only a fraction of original and are brought in to notice when the state of the case is worsen.

• Indian families still consider going to police station or police coming to there home a blot in there reputation.

• So how is it possible that women feel comfortable in reporting the case?

Note : Women are comfortable in sharing the information with there friends and solving it internally .

Proposed Solution Solution will be based on the following points, which are drawn from the drawback of

the current process:• Incorporation of concept of friend in the system of reporting of case.• What if there is no need to report to police station nor the police will come to there house?

On the basis of all the stated argument, We propose establishment of a committee and below follows its structure and functioning :

Two concept that will be used are • Concept of friend• Concept of Pizza delivery boy

Now the following question need to be answered regarding the committee

• Its structure• Accessibility• How are the above stated concepts utilized•Feasibility of establishment of such committee

The Committee A particular Jurisdiction Area

Committee

Constitutes of policemen

Women help group

Police station

Constitutes of policemen

So from the chart we find that in a particular jurisdiction area we will have 1:1 ratio of police station and the proposed committee.

Committee

Women help group

Uses the concept of friend in making the aggrieved feel

comfortable in sharing the information

Uses the concept of Pizza Delivery boy by discussing the problems of the concerned at a

location decided by her and agreed upon by the help group

Policemen

Preliminary process of solving the problem with mutual understanding of both the

parties, without FIR

Few major things are yet to be discussed like :• What will be the percentage of women help group and policemen in the committee?• How is it removing the constraint of women sharing information with the committee which itself

has policemen and how it makes difference with the present police station?• And elaboration on how the women help group is acting as friend and uses the concept of Pizza

delivery boy ?• What is the systematic process of solving the problem?• And is the process feasible?

Is the aggrieved satisfied with

apology of the concerned

Outcome1 week time slot

Committee enquiry

Solved

If yes ,problem solved with mutual understanding

(true for small teasing cases)

If no , FIR +involvement of police and punishment

UnsolvedFIR + involvement of the

police and normal judiciary process

Lets answer the question one by one

Let us first look at the systematic process of solving the problem , so that we can answer the above questions in a better manner

Aggrieved meets the committee

Severe Case

Now let us discuss the process in detail• Now the process begins with the women who is being harassed contacting the

committee of its jurisdiction (we have made the process of contacting very simple please wait till we introduce the technical innovation in upcoming slides) .

• She contacts the “women help group section” of the committee and decides upon the time and location where they can meet (this solves the problem of embarrassment faced by her family when visiting the police station or police coming to meet her and also giver her the feeling of committee being a friend and also caters to the concept of Pizza delivery boy as the some members of the committee come to meet her to provide her there services)

• When they meet at a particular decided location (it could be a public place like café etc making the meeting friendly) two members of the committee (depending on the requirement)come to meet her one being a member of Women help group and the other policemen dressed in casual uniform (this casual uniform makes her feel comfortable in sharing the information). During the meeting the aggrieved is counseled by the members and a complaint is registered with the committee .Role of both the members are important as policemen from his past experience will know how to start with basic enquiry and the member from women help group will be the greatest counselor for the women.

How is the complaint with the committee different from an FIR of the police?• As depicted in the previous flowchart this complaint is for initial enquiry process

based on the severity of the complaint the committee decides upon weather they should directly forward the case to police or enquire for one week ,during which the committee works on solving the problem on mutual understanding.

• The major benefit we get out of placing committee between police and the aggrieved even in case of sever cases is utilization of both the concepts of friend and pizza delivery boy making the aggrieved more comfortable and saving her from all the shame that her family or society may impose on her.

Further Process• After the members of the committee decide upon taking the problem instead of

directly forwarding the case to police ,they are given a strict time line of 1 week upon which they need to solve the problem and upon the outcome weather the problem is solved or not further course of action is taken as shown in flow chart.

• If the problem is solved and if the aggrieved is satisfied with the apology of the concerned the problem is solved, no FIR is lodged with the police but the complaint is still registered with the committee and if the same act is repeated by the concerned guilty it will be known and necessary course of action could be taken by the police, as any such cases will be forwarded by the committee to the police but still keep in mind we are still utilizing the concept of friend and pizza delivery boy .

• But if the aggrieved is not satisfied with just the apology of the concerned an FIR is lodged with the police and on the basis of report of the committee and validation of it, suitable punishment is given to the concerned and case is closed

Justifying the need of policemen in the committee• As stated earlier his skill are required for basic enquiry• As a safe guardian that there is nothing wrong done by members of women help

group during enquiry• As an enforcer to bring the guilty to apologize to the aggrieved.

Now the only question that is left to be answered is :

What will be the percentage of women help group and policemen in the committee and how are these police men related to the police station?

• Each and every jurisdiction of a police station will have a committee(either be it in cities or in villages) and few policemen from that station will be the members of that committee ,decided by the SP and advised by the Commissioner i.e. upon his discretion. (making the solution feasible !)

• Each committee will have a small building located near to related police station but not inside it so that we can take the benefit of the concept of removing the fear of reporting .

• The committee will have 1:1 ration of policemen and Women help Group or as may be decided by the SP upon the advise of the Commissioner of that region according to the requirement but not reducing the percentage of women help group members to less than 40% .

THUS AN ELABORATE AND FEASIBLE SOLUTION TO CLASS B PROBLEM HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BASED ON ADMINISTRATIVE AND GOVERNANCE PROCEDURE

Solution to Class D Problem (At an unknown time)

Now how can one ensure safety of a women when some misconduct occurs with her at an unknown time? Is the question which we need to find solution to .

Followings things are to be kept in mind while we propose the solution:

• Solution should be cheap • It should be in reach of majority of the population• Should be something which one always carry with herself i.e. we should try not to

introduce something which first of all needs to be with each and everyone but rather should use present technology which is already in reach of every one .

• Should be user friendly and reliable • Should be reusable• Should not hurt religious or ethnic sentiments of the public.• Should be legal

Now one thing that comes to ones mind when he think of “What is that majority of population today have and carry with them ”

MOBILE PHONE

One of the many things that comes to ones mind is how can mobile phones be useful we use mobiles phones and still we see so many cases of harassments ?

•The reason why mobile phones till now were not useful because during the incident the victim is not able to reach it and call for help .

•Now what if we say the phone will come to know when you are in trouble and will inform your relatives or friend without you accessing the phone during the incident, that would seem a bit hypothetical but you will observe that it can be done and that too in a very cheap and user friendly manner.

Mobile phones satisfies all the basic requirements like it is with majority of population weather it be rich or poor, literate or illiterate, it ranges from cheap to too expensive and does not hurts any religious or ethnic sentiments . It is reusable ,user friendly and is also legal to carry one of them.

How are we using Mobile Phones ?

Let us divide the process in to two phases, lets begin with phase I

Phase I

What is one thing in mobile industry that every one is crazy about, when I say every one I mean every one ranging from a school child to a housewife from a rich person to a tea vendor

Yes it is Android Phones or smart phones

So in the Phase I we propose to develop an android app and similar app for other smart phones and in Phase II extend it to normal phones.

How Does the Application works?

First let us have a look when does the case of harassment at an unknown time takes place and does the aggrieved carry a phone during that time?

• One thing that comes to ones mind is while travelling, major cases of harassment at an unknown time occurs when the person is travelling or is in an unknown location but is there cell phone with her during travelling ? The answer in majority cases is yes, as already discussed about the reach ability of cell phones in general public .

So how can a app protect you while you travel? • When ever we travel we know around how much time will it take for us to reach

the destination, why not use this concept?• What if you just feed the details of what will be the travel time just before you

start the journey and if some things goes wrong during the travel phone is your savior

• Now let us have a look on an elaborated flow chart on how this app will work.

Feed estimated travel time and if possible details of

mode of travel

Asks for password (only

once), after estimated time

or if want to close the app in the middle

in case journey ended before

estimated time

If entered correctly

App Closes

If wrong password

entered or no password

entered for 10 minutes

Starts recording for 3

minutes

Sends SMS to five contacts as already feed in to the app, along with current

location of the phone

If app closes abruptly (i.e. in case of breaking

of phone or phone switch off )

Content of the SMS:

Name of the person activated the app at following time for the following mode of transportation (its details , travel time) and is currently not responding to phone and phones recent location was ___

And in case of abrupt closing of app the same content just including, the phone died abruptly and last location ____

Also it will send another SMS with recording of 3 min from the time of wrong entry of password

Flow Chart on Working of App

Brief about functions of App

The functioning of app during the travel is illustrated in the flow chart and explains the process, but lets have a look on some aspect which are pre requisite to the app:

In other words responsibility of the person :• First of all app needs to be downloaded and installed in the phone.• Concerned person should feed the app before hand with contacts of 5

acquaintances.• The concerned person should set up a password for the app before hand• Should feed the travel time when ever she travels or thinks some life process to

be dangerous or could lead to harassment.

Now let us look at some hidden positive features in the app :• What if the women has reached safely and due to some reason was not able to

enter password or entered wrong password ?• Then in that case the feature of recording for 3 minutes will be a savior as the

acquaintances will come to know if something is wrong or not and if the women is safe she will also respond to any incoming call

• The app removes the requirement of accessibility of phone during the very instant of misconduct

• It takes care in case the guilty breaks the phone .• Can be used even when the misconduct happens in a moving medium as the

mode of travel is already feed and the last transmitted SMS shows the last location.

• Sends an Audio clip about what's happening so that the acquaintances can come to know about the current situation and act accordingly.

• No extensive use of mobile internet in the app making it handy even if some one doesn't has an internet connection in the cell.

• Eliminates the conventional process of thinking that SMS should be sent to nearest police station or nearest Bluetooth device , which may lead to complicacy of the process as it will involve searching for the nearest police station or Bluetooth devices and there response is uncertain and also many such SMS will come leading to hap hazard situation .

• Sending SMS and Audio clip to acquaintances takes the benefit of there personal concerns for the women and also a great sense of responsibility towards her.

Eliminating the responsibility burden laid of the user (This section can be taken as an additional useful section which if implemented will be extremely helpful but will

require effort from both government and the manufactures end)

As stated earlier few responsibilities were laid on the user, now we will try to relievethe user with some of those responsibilities.

Concern of App being Downloaded and installed in the phone• App being free can be provided with every smart phone as an inbuilt feature eliminating

the need of downloading and installingSetting up of password for the App• Each App , as it is provided already in every new smart phone, the feature of unique

password for each phone (i.e. for the app in the phone) along with purchase receipt can be enforced, which will make people at least open the app once to know why is the password given and will increase the use or popularity of the app . Also relieving the user from responsibility of setting a password as a password is already given and they can change it according to there wish

Note :This feature will be extremely helpful for rural population of our nation

So we note that the user can be relieved of few of his responsibilities but still he needs totake care of some responsibilities

Important Additional Features of the App

Government has so many helpline numbers for women security, let us examine itclosely how can we make it even more effective:

What is lacking ?• Popularity : General public know more about the latest product in the market than the

latest scheme by the government . Why ?• Because they advertise . But government also has PIB , different schemes shown as

advertisement that what is hampering it ?• It is the accessibility and understanding that is demanded by these programs that

causes a greatest hindrance in its popularity.How can we solve it with the help of this App?• One time inbuilt database of all women security numbers prevailing in India will be feed

into the app and will be provided with each purchase of new phone or download of the app.

• And on the basis of which network circle is being used by the operator the app will select the relevant number when speed dial option is used by the person.

• This reduces the person burden of remembering helpline numbers and also safe time during emergency.

• And the update of helpline numbers can be done by the user by minimal inter usage like once in a year.

Promotion of the App

Along with a good App one need to have good promotion of the app so that generalpublic is aware of its benefit, we have already stated some promotion schemes whichrequire minimal expenditure:• Like incorporation of App in every new smart phone and its password in the

invoice .• Another inexpensive way to promote the app will be to highlight its feature of tell

you about different government policy for women safety (in any regional language) and the ease with which it can be used to contact helpline numbers.

• Last but the expensive way is to advertise about the app and its features as stated in the presentation on how it can help in an unpredicted unsafe situation.

Phase IIAs stated previously phase II involves development or transformation of this app fornon-smart phone so that every class of population is covered .

THUS AN ELABORATED AND EEFECTIVE SOLUTION TO CLASS D PROBLEMS HAS BEENPROPOSED WITH HIGH FEASIBILITY BASED ON TECHNICAL AND GOVERNANCE FRONT

Solution to Class C Problem(Girl isolated, not able to report)

The solution we posed for Class D problem will not be effective if there is poornetwork connectivity and then that particular situation will fall under this class ofproblem .

What could be a feasible solution to this class of problem where women has no accessto any means of communication ? Let us examine it• This situation will not arise after the solution to Class D problem is in place• But presently there is a need of solution for those who are already isolated .

So one thing that comes to any ones mind in this situation is “Self-dependency” ofwomen

When we say “Self-dependency” it is a complicated , broad and timely spread term.Lets have a look in it in the following slides

Self-dependency

• When someone thinks very crudely about it, first things that comes to his mind is that women should be able to either fight mentally or physically in these situations

• But let us be realistic, is it possible for her to fight her male counter part ? Does she has the strength. We do not deny that its not possible, it is possible but with only few cases but what about the remaining ?

Answer to this class of problem is rooted deep in our education system, let us examinehow and what we can do ?

Note : The solution posed for this particular class of problem will take its effect over aperiod of time and are just moral suggestive measures and its implementations.

• Openness of the education system, bridging the expanding gap between parents and there children relating to issues of relationships.

• Teaching and making girls self dependent at an early age by reducing there dependence on male counter part in the family for every small concerns.

• Sex education in schools, so that males start learning how to respect there female counter part by learning what is moral and what is immoral.

• Promotion of coeducation .

These changes in education system will make women more self dependent and out spoke by removing there fear about discussing relationship issues with there family members.

The above stated points seems obvious when thought about Women safety but are the most powerful points to eliminate Class C problems from our society for ever.

We need combined effort for such a system to be in place.

Conclusion

• We have thus proposed solution to each class of problems.

• Keeping in mind the proposed constraints of :– Feasibility of idea– Innovativeness of idea– Financial implication and administrative

requirement– Impact of idea– Potential for implementation

Let us dream of our nation where women are secure and do not fear the wrong or unjust

Thank You