Self-defence these days is the need of the hour with the capital becoming increasingly unsafe for women. Stepping up and taking action, a group of students from The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar, are bringing in a new tool – the rape whistle.
Popular in western countries, these students have taken the concept and designed their pink coloured rape whistle after working for over two years.
The whistle is a light object that one can carry as a key chain and is equipped with an on and off button. When it is switched on the whistle will blow at 120 decibel —as loud as noise at a rock concert — alerting people around.
The whistle has a rechargeable battery and incase the battery dies during an emergency the person can blow the whistle manually.
The rape whistle is part of a larger “She’s Against Rape†campaign launched by Ananya Mittal, Kairavi Bharatram and Aditya Ray Jain. The three students got together in the beginning and now has a large group of students working for the campaign.
“We wanted to do something that is tangible and easy. Pepper spray can sometimes backfire at you and not everyone can learn martial arts. So we wanted to introduce something easy for every woman,†said Ananya.
The group wants to distribute the whistles among women in the city for free and hope they will receive help from the Delhi Police.
“We did a lot of research and are finally getting them made in China as it is much cheaper there. The cost of production in China is Rs 190 as against Rs 250 here. Initially our parents helped us with the funds but we are hoping to get help from corporate and other agencies,†Aditya added.
“Bringing the whistle and distributing it is not much of an issue. The biggest task for us will be to make people aware of the sound that the whistle makes. We have to make it as popular as the sound of an ambulance or a fire brigade, so that if people hear it they will help,†said Kairavi.
