TS police develop Dial 100 based app for women safety

Dialing 100 for help will have new dimensions for women in distress, with the Women’s Safety Wing of the Telangana State Police now in the process of developing an app that will do more than just send a team to help.

The new initiative, which will redirect calls to Dial 100 from women needing help to the app, will go a step ahead offering counselling and guidance through volunteers.

If any women dials 100 during the time of distress, their call will be redirected to the app wherein a volunteer will be assigned to the complainant.

“We will be taking calls that come to 100 and assigning a volunteer based on what the complaint is about. If the issue can be solved by counselling them on the phone, we will do that. Otherwise, we will also provide them details on what are the next steps they can take to get justice,” Swati Lakra, Additional Director General of Police, Women Safety told.

Lakra added that the app would be ready to be rolled out in a month and that initially, they would start



by addressing domestic violence cases. And depending on the response for the initiative, plans will be made to extend it to other cases as well.

“We are partnering with NGOs and civil society groups to help us with volunteers. These volunteers will be trained in different aspects of communication and legal issues of dealing with women safety and crimes against women,” Swati Lakra added.

Other than this, the Women Safety Wing has also created general awareness among the public through SHE Teams and is also setting up a Cyber Lab, which will also help train police personnel with tools and software to detect cybercrimes happening against women and help the victims.

The SHE Cyber Lab is being set up through a partnership between WSW and Centre for Research on Cyber Intelligence and Digital Forensics (CRCIDF). “The lab will help in not just tackling cybercrimes happening against women, but also help in creating awareness about cybercrimes and cracking cases,” Lakra said.