Bengaluru police ask women to use safety app Suraksha

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Tuesday made a public appeal, especially to women, for using the Suraksha app for security, safety and assistance from the police.

"When stuck in an emergency, download the Bengaluru City Police Suraksha App, press the red button to trigger the police and to alert your family and friends," said Rao in a Facebook post on the city police official page.

The Commissioner provided links to download the app for both android and apple phone operating systems.

Later on Tuesday afternoon, the city police flagged a false women's helpline number doing rounds on social media, asking women in distress to contact.

"The number 9969777888 does not belong to Bengaluru city police, people are requested not to believe or share this fake message," the city police said.

More than a 1 lakh people have already downloaded the Suraksha App which was launched in April 2017 to alert the police control room and dispatch the police patrol vehicle nearest to the distress alert.

The police said every police station in the city is equipped with two patrolling vehicles, with the exclusive mission to attend to emergency calls.

Following the gang rape and immolation of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad recently, Bengaluru Police Commissioner said any distress call will be replied to in seven seconds.

Rao said the police station jurisdiction will not restrict the police from acting as the case can be transferred after first responding.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru Metro has allowed all women to carry a pepper spray for safety, following a woman passenger questioning the Metro on Twitter for arbitrarily depriving women of a handy self defence equipment.IANS