R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Oct 23: Of late, women are increasingly becoming victims of rape, sexual harassment, and other crimes. The alarming increase in such incidents give rise to doubts that women are not safe anywhere, and they always pose themselves to the risks of getting attacked, molested, and used. Therefore, it has become imperative to arm the ladies with certain tools which can come to their rescue at these critical junctures.

Keeping this need in mind, a teacher in a technical educational institution here has devised a new kind of cell phone that he believes has the capacity to instill courage in women and make it possible for them to wriggle out of critical situations.

Praveen Bhat, a native of Karkala and presently working as a technical teacher here, has come up with a technology meant to protect women in such situations. He has named his invention, 'Safe Plus Mobile'.

Cell phones nowadays come equipped with several features like torch, bluetooth, music player, internet, WhatsApp, maps etc that have revolutionized the way we live, but none of these or other features are empowered with technology which helps women to defend themselves when cornered.

The cell phone conceived by Bhat comes fitted with a sharp knife, attached in the rear side of the cell phone. This knife can be folded. When women sense danger, they can turn over the cell phone held by them, flip out the knife and threaten or attack the offending person, before escaping to safety. This technology comes in handy not only against persons making sexual advances, but also those who might try to relieve women of their gold ornaments, bhat asserts.

On an experimental basis, Bhat has provided for fixing of a knife on the backside of mobile phone that can be opened or folded at will. At present, this entails manual operation, but in the coming days, cell phone companies can provide knives fitted inside cell phones which can be swished open by using micro dive motors, Bhat opines. The companies can also provide a single emergency button, pressing of which can make the knife to jut out and ready for use. This feature has the potential of gaining international popularity, Bhat says.

Praveen Bhat admits he was inspired to make this invention after going through continuing cases of atrocities on women and incidents in which women are fleeced of valuables worn by them. He says that he has observed that women usually hold their cell phone sets in their hands, and therefore, can flip open knives at will. On the basis of this observation, he has designed this device.

A local, Lata, feels that Safe Plus Mobile can come to the rescue of women, particularly college students and employed ones, in case of emergencies. She thinks that introduction of this technology will instill a sense confidence among women and apprehension in the minds of criminals, which in turn will result in lesser number of crimes against women.