8 out of 10 women in India have faced harassment via calls, SMS: Truecaller

Eight out of 10 women in India receive harassment and nuisance calls with Chennai, New Delhi and Pune emerging as the most-affected metros by sexual harassment calls/SMS against women, according to a report by Truecaller.

The third edition of 'Understanding the impact of harassment calls and SMS for women in India' found eight out of 10 women respondents in India saying they have faced phone harassment and nuisance calls through calls and SMS messages.

Also, one out of five women respondents said they had received sexual and inappropriate calls. The most-affected cities in India are Chennai, New Delhi, Pune and Kolkata.

Interestingly, India also had the highest rate of women taking action against harassment calls/SMS among the countries surveyed (Kenya, Columbia, Brazil and Egypt).

The report noted that women in India share their number as a common practice, especially when recharging their phone at a store, visiting restaurants, shopping, entering contests and filling in logbooks.

When it comes to taking action against phone harassment, 85 per cent said they blocked the number. While most women chose to ignore this, only 12 per cent reported the number to authorities, the report said.

"We see a worrying trend of an increase in sexual harassment for women through calls and SMS. Normalising harassment has a devastating effect on the victims. Our campaign is building a community of people who are on a mission to encourage women to #MakeTheCall and to take action against such harassment by reporting it to the relevant authorities," Truecaller Managing Director Sandeep Patil said.

Truecaller stands against women's harassment in any and all forms, he added.

The study - supported by Ipsos - covered India, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt and Kenya. The sample size varied from 1,000 to 3,343 women for each market among the age group 18-40.