A machine now to report women abuse

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 309,546 crimes against women reported to the police last year. Rape, dowry deaths, sexual assault, molestation and abduction increased by 26.7% in 2014. Even in this modern age, women continue to remain afraid to voice their problems. For many Indian women, reporting a domestic violence to police means making your marital problems public.

An ATM type machine, however, jointly developed by the Odisha Police and the state-run Odisha Computer Application Centre called the ‘iClik’ allows users to report their complaints by email, voice message or scanning a written complaint. This message is immediately transmitted to Bhubaneswar’s police control room for investigation. The iClik comes with its inbuilt microphone, scanner, camera and printer and is located next to an ATM machine- serving dual purposes, power backup and security guard already present outside the ATM booth. Currently, this machine can be found only in Odisha but this is undoubtedly, a need of the day and should be there in all Indian cities.

As the iClik allows users to report crimes anonymously, women can escape ‘social stigma’ and lodge their complaints privately and safely. As the machine allows women to report complaints in one’s local language, even illiterate women can simply speak into the machine and register her complaint. Until the ‘social fear’ of women goes away, this machine can help fight their battles. A brilliant and much needed invention needed!