India to test 'panic button' on mobile phones in Uttar Pradesh

Thursday 4 January 2018 | 07:29 CET | News
India will launch a pilot project to test 'panic button' feature on mobile phones in Uttar Pradesh on 26 January, The Economic Times reports, citing minister Maneka Gandhi. Back in April 2016, the Department of Telecommunications had made it mandatory for mobile manufacturers to provide panic buttons on mobile phones. 

Under this decision, phones must include the panic button in the form of numeric key 5 or 9 for emergency calls. Smartphones without the facility of an emergency call have to allow the use of power on or off button as the panic button. 

"The pilot project (to test the panic button backed by a real-time police response) will start in the state of UP from 26 January" the Women and Child Development (WCD) minister said. According to Gandhi, an earlier trial of the project saw a large number of prank calls, leading to a delay in the implementation of the panic button feature.

According to Chetan Sanghi, Joint Secretary, WCD, all new phones sold in India now have a panic button, but the back-end architecture is being implemented in Uttar Pradesh. To participate in the trial, smartphone users should download a mobile application which will send alerts if a victim long presses the panic button on the phone. Feature phone users should only press the designated key.

"Once a user presses the panic button, five calls will be made to emergency number 112. Following this, five SMSs will be immediately sent to police authorities, and another three to five SMSs will be sent to family members of the victim" Sanghi said. Nearly 25-50 volunteers near the victim’s location will also be notified by SMS. The WCD joint secretary also said the volunteers will be monitored by local authorities and will receive training on how to provide help to a woman in distress.

Once the trial is successful in UP, it will be implemented in three other states identified by the Centre and eventually in the entire country. According to Sanghi, the panic button system will be implemented across India by year-end.