In India, a key warning on smartphones for abused women

Online : A foundation of India in New Delhi on Wednesday launched an application for smartphones that allow women to prevent relatives or the police in cases of sexual assault, a growing phenomenon in the country.

Created by a charitable foundation, Whypoll, the application "Fight Back" (fight back) sends an SOS text message, email and Facebook, and geolocation its issuer.

Users can include the policy number in the list of recipients of the SOS, but according to the founder of Whypoll, Hindol Sengupta, the application is mainly for family and friends.

"The Indians depend much more of their relatives because they do not trust the system to help them," he told AFP.

Questioned by AFP, said officers unaware of the application available on smartphones Nokia, Samsung, HTC and BlackBerry.

Major Indian cities recorded an alarming increase in the number of sexual assault and increasing insecurity especially in New Delhi.

A study conducted in 2010 by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the United Nations and human rights group Women Jagori ("Women wake up" in Hindi), 85% of women are afraid of being harassed and 45% avoid go out alone after dark.

According to police figures, the federal capital is now the leading cities of the country less safe, with 489 cases of rape in 2010, against 459 in 2009.