A Bengaluru Woman Created Maps To Highlight Sexual Harassment Zones In The City

A 26-year-old woman, government veterinary doctor, was allegedly raped and burnt alive in Telangana. Just a day ago, a woman was allegedly raped and killed by a migrant labourer in Perumbavoor, rural Ernakulam in Kerala. The victim was in her early 40s and was staying away from her parents. She knew the perpetrator.

With such incidents surfacing every day and shattering the last bit of belief in a safe society, the time is ensure making public spaces safe for women. But it¡¯s just a dream and that too a distant one.

A chilling report came from Bengaluru in 2017 on New Year¡¯s Eve. Women were touched, pushed, shoved, grabbed, groped and molested on the streets. The mass molestation was shocking. Mob outnumbered the police and were difficult to control.

Surveillance cameras helped nab the culprits and people got to know what really happened. Police admitted they had credible evidence that widespread sexual assaults too place in the streets of the city, otherwise believed to be safe.

Reuters

In a bid to reclaim the streets and keep a track of harassment incidents that happen every day across the city, a Bengaluru woman came up with a workable idea that could also help policemen nab the culprits without delay.

Nupur Patny, a fourth-year student of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology has come up with a map. She calls it 'It's Not My Fault'.

The map identifies sexual harassment zones in Bengaluru. She made it happen by asking women to put post-it notes on Bengaluru¡¯s map. This is how she began to collect data on what women faced in different areas across the city.

Nupur says this will facilitate post-incidental support to the sexual harassment victims on a digital platform.

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"My map is a free space for women to share their experience of sexual harassment in specific locations that have taken place. Going very local as to understanding what harassment happened and what kind of changes are needed which can eventually help the police to take preventive measures to avoid such situations and make women feel safer wherever they are and whatever they are wearing,¡± Nupur told India Today in an interview.

Next, she wants to work on developing an augmented reality-based heat map to mark out sexual harassment-prone areas in Bengaluru.

The data collected by Nupur indicates different ways in which women are molested, inappropriately touched or stared at. With the data, other women would also know the areas that aren¡¯t safe for them.

With cases of molestation and rape making headlines each day and a failing state of law and order, such apps may help making the streets safer for women.