Maneka Gandhi asks Rajnath to launch 'Panic Button' at earliest

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday appealed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to launch the panic button feature on mobile handsets in the country as soon as possible.

Women and Child Development Ministry has been pursuing the provision of 'panic button' on all mobile handsets to provide emergency response to women in distress. The facility which is still in the pipeline will be installed in the mobile handsets to send a distress signal to the nearest Police Control Room (PCR) in an emergency situation.

Moreover, it will also send signals to selected family members or friends identifying the location of the aggrieved woman through a satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS).

The facility, which underwent trials recently saw family members of the users and the nearest three volunteers receiving SMS alerts. The minimum time for police dispatch vans to reach the user's site was recorded at two minutes while the maximum time was 26 minutes and average time recorded was 8 minutes.

The trial was successfully completed in 47 districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh.