Women Safety Solutions in India: Decentralising Safety

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The short answer

Decentralised safety means the first people to know you are in trouble are your own circle of family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, reached on any phone by SMS and call. It does not replace 112, India's emergency number, which works in all 36 States and UTs. It adds a closer, faster layer for the first minutes, with personal data kept under the user's control.

India's central systems matter: 112 covers all 36 States and UTs, and 181 has assisted over 1.04 crore women.
The first minutes of an emergency are usually handled by the people closest to you.
Alerts should reach any phone by SMS and voice call, not only smartphone apps.
Location should go only to people you choose, only during an alert, as the DPDP Act expects.
Kavach is a startup with a waitlist; this is a direction, not a solved problem.

This is Kavach's mission, written for anyone who thinks about how India keeps people safe: families, nonprofits, police officers, employers and engineers. It explains what we mean by decentralising safety, why we think it belongs alongside 112 rather than in place of it, the principles we build by, and where we may still be wrong.

What does decentralised safety mean?

Decentralised safety means the first people to know you need help are the people closest to you, and they can act within minutes, wherever you are. Central systems such as 112 remain essential. Decentralised safety adds a layer in front of them: your own circle of family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, alerted at once, on whatever phone they own.

It is not a new idea. Neighbours who knock when they hear shouting, a colleague who waits until you message that you are home, a watchman who knows which resident lives alone: Indian communities have always worked this way. Breakthrough's Bell Bajao campaign made the point in 2008 when it asked neighbours to ring the doorbell if they heard domestic violence. The task now is to make that circle reachable in seconds, with one action, without asking anyone to install anything.

What has India already built for emergencies?

A great deal, and it matters. The Emergency Response Support System gives the whole country one number, 112, and works in all 36 States and Union Territories. Each State runs its own control room, which can take requests by voice call, SMS, SOS, WhatsApp and other channels and dispatch police, fire, ambulance and other help. By March 2025 it had handled over 43 crore calls since launch. Alongside it:

the Women Helpline 181 had assisted over 1.04 crore women by 30 June 2026;
991 One Stop Centres offer medical aid, legal aid, temporary shelter, police assistance and counselling under one roof;
15,049 Women Help Desks operate in police stations, most of them headed by women officers;
State police run squads and apps such as Telangana's SHE Teams and Tamil Nadu's Kavalan SOS, described in our guide to working with police and government.

The government has also recognised the role of people nearby. The 112 India app was built with a SHOUT feature that can alert registered volunteers close to a person in distress, along with her emergency contacts. Even so, the app had a little over 14.36 lakh downloads by April 2024, a small number beside the 36 crore calls the system had handled by then. For most people, help still begins with a phone call.

Why do the people closest to you handle the first minutes?

Because they are near, they know you, and they know where you were going. Even the best emergency service needs someone to make the call, describe what is happening and give a location, and then a vehicle has to travel. A sister who knows your route, the neighbour one floor down or a colleague still at the office can often act sooner: call you back, call 112 with your exact location, or simply turn up.

Safety is also not only a problem of the street. The National Crime Records Bureau's Crime in India 2024 report recorded 4,41,534 crimes against women, a rate of 64.6 per lakh women and about 1.5 percent lower than the year before, and the largest category was cruelty by a husband or relatives. Harm at home is often noticed first by the wider family, neighbours and friends. A safety system has to reach the people who can notice and act.

What are the principles of decentralised safety?

Your circle responds first. Alerts go to people you chose, who know you and can act or call 112 with an exact location.
Alerts reach any phone. An SMS and a voice call reach a parent with a basic phone. App notifications are welcome, never required.
The trigger works without a screen. In a crowd, on a two-wheeler or after a fall, unlocking a phone is slow. The 112 system already supports a panic shortcut: three quick presses of the power button on a smartphone, or a long press of 5 or 9 on a feature phone, as our 112 and SOS guide explains. A physical button can be faster still.
Data stays with the user. Location goes only to people you choose, only while it is needed. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 rests on principles such as consent, purpose limitation and data minimisation, and its Rules were notified in November 2025.
It includes people the smartphone economy leaves out. Older adults, people living alone and families who rely on basic phones should be able to take part fully, as senders and as contacts.
It complements 112. The circle does not replace police, ambulances or helplines. It gets them called sooner, with better information.

How can Indian cities become safer?

By pairing strong central systems with many small, local ones. Safe City projects in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai add CCTV, lighting and better policing technology. Much of the rest is local, and often cheap:

Audit streets with the women who use them. Women's safety audits, such as those Jagori has run in Delhi since its Safe Delhi Campaign of 2004 and those Safetipin runs through its app, look at lighting, visibility, crowds, footpaths, public transport and how women feel, then press for specific fixes.
Think about the whole journey. The walk from a bus stop or station to the front door matters as much as the ride.
Bring more women into public roles. Women drivers, women officers at police help desks and women vendors change how a street feels.
Organise neighbourhoods. Housing societies, markets and campuses that know their beat officer, keep emergency contact lists and check on people living alone respond faster.
Set up circles before they are needed. The best plan fails if an alert reaches no one, so agree who your contacts are and what each will do.

How do these principles shape Kavach?

We are building Kavach around them. Kavach Core, our first device, sits on a key ring. Pressing both edge buttons together and holding starts a 130 dB siren and strobe and sends an SOS with your name, the time and a live location link to up to five emergency contacts, through your paired phone. Five commitments follow:

Calm design. A two-button squeeze and hold so it does not go off in a bag, a Test mode for practice, and an "I've got it" button so one contact takes charge and the others know who is responding. You tap "I'm safe" to close the loop.
No metered alerts. Triggers are unlimited. Nobody should hesitate to press because of a counter.
Privacy by default. Location goes only to the contacts you choose, only while an alert is active or when you switch on live sharing. We do not sell data or use it for advertising.
Works offline as a siren. The siren and strobe work on their own, even without the phone or a subscription.
Built in India, for any phone. Designed and engineered in Pune and manufactured in India. Contacts do not need the app: on every plan, every contact gets an SMS and an automated voice call that moves down the list until someone answers.

What is Kavach building toward?

Kavach Plus, the next device, adds fall and impact detection and struggle detection. Kavach Pro, coming soon, will alert directly by satellite with no paired phone or SIM, for places where mobile coverage is weak. Kavach Children, also coming soon, is a separate line and app for parents, with curfew and safe-arrival alerts, school routes and geofences, and no phone or app needed for the child.

What has Kavach not solved?

A great deal. We are a startup with a waitlist, and Kavach Core is coming soon. Kavach does not call 112 for you. Core and Plus send alerts through your paired phone, so a flat phone battery or no signal limits them to the siren and strobe. A circle of five is only as strong as the people in it and whether they pick up. And no device touches the causes of violence; that is the work of women's organisations, police, courts, schools and communities, which we hope to learn from rather than speak for.

How can you join in?

Readers: choose your circle today. Save emergency contacts on your phone, learn its SOS shortcut and agree with two or three people what each will do if you call. Join the waitlist if you want Kavach when it ships.
Nonprofits: help us design for the women and older people you serve. Read our open invitation to women's organisations.
Police and government: tell us, through official channels, what would make an alert useful to a control room.
Employers, RWAs and campuses: build circles around night shifts, hostels and housing societies. Our guide to neighbourhoods and campuses as first responders shows how.

Write to corporate@kavachdevices.com or use the contact form. We read every message, and we would especially like to hear from people who think we have this wrong.

If you or someone near you is in immediate danger, call 112. It works across India.

Questions people ask

What is decentralised safety?

Decentralised safety is an approach in which the first responders to a personal emergency are the people closest to you: family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. They are alerted instantly on any phone, by SMS and call, and can act or call 112 with your exact location. It works alongside police and emergency services rather than replacing them.

How can I make sure my family is alerted in an emergency in India?

Save two or three emergency contacts on your phone and agree with them what each will do if you call or send an alert. Learn your phone's SOS shortcut and set up the 112 India app, which can notify your emergency contacts. Share live location on late journeys. A personal safety device can add a one-squeeze alert, but the plan matters most.

Does a personal safety device replace calling 112?

No. A personal safety device alerts your chosen contacts and can sound a siren, but it does not replace 112, the single emergency number for police, fire and ambulance across India. Kavach, for example, does not call 112 for you; 112 is one tap away on its alert screen. In any emergency, calling 112 should remain the first step.

How many crimes against women were reported in India in 2024?

The National Crime Records Bureau's Crime in India 2024 report, released in May 2026, recorded 4,41,534 crimes against women. That is a rate of 64.6 per lakh women and about 1.5 percent lower than in 2023. The largest category was cruelty by a husband or relatives. These figures count registered cases only.

Can someone with a basic phone receive a safety alert?

Yes, if the alert is sent by SMS or voice call. With Kavach, contacts do not need the app: every contact gets an SMS and an automated voice call that moves down the list until someone answers. For 112, a feature phone user can long-press 5 or 9 to make a panic call.

How can an organisation support community safety in India?

Nonprofits can help design safety tools around the people they serve, police can tell builders what makes an alert useful to a control room, and employers, housing societies and colleges can organise check-ins, safe transport and emergency contact lists. Kavach welcomes all of these conversations at corporate@kavachdevices.com or through the contact form on kavachdevices.com.

Sources

Checked on 3 October 2026. Helpline numbers and rules change, so confirm with the official source before you rely on them.

Kavach Core is coming soon

Join the waitlist

One squeeze sounds a 130 dB siren and sends your live location to the people you trust. Join the waitlist to hear first when Kavach is ready and keep the price you signed up at.

Questions, partnerships or orders for a team? Write to corporate@kavachdevices.com, or learn more at kavachdevices.com.