All Mobile Phones Must Have Panic Button Beginning in 2017 in India
Tuesday 26th of April 2016
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All Indian mobile phones 'must have panic button'
All mobile phones sold in the country from 2017 must include a panic button the India's telecommunications ministry make this decission for a better India.
The main reason behind this is woman safety, in the light of growing concerns about levels of sexual violence in the country.
They also said, from 2018, phones will also have to include GPS navigation systems.
India does not have a centralised emergency number but officials are looking to introduce one this year.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said: "Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women?"
The National Crime Records Bureau said there were 337,922 reports of violence against women, including rape, molestation, abduction and cruelty in 2014, including 36,000 rapes, a rise of 9% on the previous year's figures.
It is likely that the real incidence of rape is much higher than official figures suggest.
It is not yet clear how the panic button system will work but it is likely to allow customers to call the emergency services by either pressing a single button or by pressing the power button several times in succession.
Women's safety has risen to the top of the political agenda in India since the fatal gang rape of a 23 year-old medical student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 sparked new anti-rape laws in the country.