App to help women tackle sexual harassment

Patna: Seeking to give girls and women in rural areas a platform to raise voice against sexual harassments, a mobile app has been developed by a group of city-based activists, for such victims, who otherwise do not have much access to social media. 

The app is slated to be officially launched here on Wednesday, in the presence of renowned international activist Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign; and noted lawyer Indira Jaisingh, amongst others, Patna-based Gender Alliance, said.

Bandhan Tod 2.0 app is an upgrade of its earlier version, which only catered to cases of child marriage and domestic violence. The main, new additional feature of the app is 'Chuppi Tod', meant for airing grievances related to sexual harassment. 

"We have now completely revamped our old app, and especially after the #MeToo movement in the country, so many people opened up about their previous cases, on Twitter and Facebook. 

But, that is only a very select urban sample of the cases, such incidents are also happening in rural areas".  And, this new app seeks to give girls and women in rural areas, "a voice, a platform to vent their angst and frustration", when they feel helpless, a senior official of NGO said.

"But, how many in rural areas are social media-savvy or use Twitter or Facebook, the way an urban population does. So, we felt the need to overhaul the app, and thus 'Chuppi Tod' feature was born. 

As it was in the old app for child marriage cases, a sexual harassment victim can raise an SOS through a button," she added.

 The official said the app, now available in Hindi only, can be downloaded by any user of a smart phone, rural or urban, adding, smart phone penetration is there in rural areas too, so "we expect an outreach". 

Plan is also to launch an English version to target non-Hindi-speaking states.

"We will then first vet the allegation and then actions accordingly, which could either be a legal intervention or counselling in person or connecting her with the National Women Commission," the official said.

The Gender Alliance official said, its team has already met with the Bihar police chief and he has encouraged its use to address such cases, adding seven cases have already been reported through 'Chuppi Tod' before the formal launch of the app. 

Users can also know about what constitutes sexual harassment, the act, mannerisms and innuendos, so that they can become alert when faced with such situations. "People using it can also take a quiz to see if they have understood the issue," she said.

Bandhan Tod aap, launched in 2017, in its previous avatar had helped save a 13-year-old schoolgirl in a village in Bihar's Darbhanga district from becoming a victim of child marriage, after she had raised an alert. 

The girl, Rinki from Benipur block, about 30 km out of Darbhangha district headquarters, was later felicitated by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for bravely resisting the evil practice.