Punjab to take action against women harassment through technology

Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) is developing a smartphone application to protect women from harassment at workplace, public areas or domestic violence using the latest technology.

PSCA is collaborating with Punjab Service Commission on Status of Women (PCSW) and LUMS IT department for the application development. Just recently, PSCA successfully launched Punjab Police Integrated Command, Control & Communication (PPIC3) Center Lahore for the protection of citizens.

Inheritance rights, forced under-age marriages, honor killings, domestic violence; a poll listed Pakistan as the third most dangerous country for women. PCSW works on promoting gender equality, empowering women and formulating policies to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.

Women will be able to notify the officials of PPIC3 about any incident of oppression or harassment. The police will take quick action against the offenders by reaching the crime scene in time. The punishments will be in accordance with the harassment laws.

The android application will have a panic button which will redirect emergency calls to 15. The application will also enlist the cases which count as harassment. Speaking about which Deputy Chief System Integration at PSCA, Shamsher Haider said,

“Definitions of what constitutes harassment and what does not will be built-into the application so apart from helping out the citizens, we can also educate them,”

The application will be launched by the end of December 2016.