Women’s safety in Gurgaon: Police and bus-sharing app run campaign to sensitise people

As part of a new initiative against rising crime against women and children, Gurgaon Police is having buses display helpline numbers, and conducting educational workshops on gender sensitisation and sexual harassment.

As crimes against women and children continue to be on the rise, Gurgaon Police have set about sensitising people and creating awareness about the subject, in a novel way. Under this initiative, the force will display messages about women’s safety and other social causes by putting them on Shuttl buses plying the roads of the Millennium City. The initiative also aims to educate residents on workplace harassment and safety in schools.

As part of a women’s safety initiative by Gurgaon Police, 5 Shuttl buses in Gurgaon will have messages featuring the 24*7 women’s helpline number and 24*7 child helpline number.

Pankhuri Kumar, ACP, (Headquarters) Gurgaon, says, “The campaign is to spread awareness on women’s and children’s safety. Women shouldn’t feel unsafe, especially while using public transport system. Also, since buses go to a lot of places, they will carry our messages to those places. Also, the school-going and office-going crowd, which also uses these buses in a big way, will get the message.” She adds, “We feel, that through this channel, we’ll also be able to popularise the women’s helpline number (1091) and the children’s helpline number (1098), and give people a sense of security.”

And that’s not all. Soon, Gurgaon Police will also conduct workshops in schools and offices to educate people about the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The force has also roped in various NGOs to educate children on safety and action.