Safecity Safety Champion – Sunayana

One day I was going to college from home as usual and a random stranger called me to know what’s the time, before I could respond he flashed his genitals and started touching himself in the street. I immediately ignored and started walking briskly to reach the main road. After this incident I was anxious and hated myself for not being able to do anything. I told my parents and a close friend, they told me to ignore it and informed me these incidents are common and tend to happen. And I should be glad that I was not physically hurt by the perpetrator. I was not able to move on and started searching for ways to tackle this problem. That’s when I found the Safecity App. I shared this incident in the app and felt relieved. After a few days, the local police installed security cameras on the street where the incident took place. Recently when I saw the opportunity to volunteer as a Safecity Safety Champion to make others aware about this app and report more incidents to make others cautious, I readily applied. I knew it was not going to be an easy conversation with people to share if they have been subjected to any such incidents that involve harassment or any other inconvenience in public spaces to be reported and make others be aware and prevent such incidents from repeating again. Even though the reports are shared anonymously, many hesitated to report it on the app as it was deeply ingrained in their memory and weirdly the victim feels bad compared to the perpetrator who is responsible for such incidents. I had to assure them no personal details are collected and the report will benefit many others to be precautious. Also, this data highlights the gravity of the situation to enable better safety measures and policies for the government to implement. I would definitely encourage many others to report as much as possible with the ability to recognise which section they can report it as a crime to the police station, a tool to recover and indirectly facilitate the safety of people around us.