'Anti-rape' underwear
invented
Student-designed panties have GPS,
give electric shocks
ANGRY: The
fatal gang rape of an Indian student in December sparked
unprecedented protests over the treatment of women in the
country.
PICTURE:
REUTERS
INDIAN women are fighting back against rape in the country, and
the latest invention in their fight - "anti-rape underwear",
created by a group of engineering students in India.
They claim that the novel wearable device will
prevent rape and other sexual offences.
The protective panties are reportedly built to
deliver up to 82 electric shocks to a would-be offenderwhen
pressure sensors on the item detect unwanted force, reported Indian
news agency Press Trust Of India.
The technology-assisted undergarment, named Society
Harnessing Equipment, has a built-in Global Positioning System
(GPS) that would allow a woman at risk to be easily located.
Said Miss Manisha Mohan, who help developed the
product: "The lingerie with Global Positioning System, global
system for moblie communications (GSM) and also pressure sensors is
capable of sending shock waves of 3,800 kilovolts as well as alerts
to parents and police.
"A person trying to molest a girl will get the
shock of his life the moment pressure sensors get activated, and
the GPS and GSM modules would send an SMS (to the Indian emergency
number) as well as to parents of the girl."
Miss Manisha, an engineering student at SRM
University in the southern Indian city of Chennai, built a
prototype of the underwear with her two colleagues, Miss Rimpi
Tripathi and Miss Neeladri Basu Pal. They hope to start commerical
production of the device later this month.
The creation comes as India deals with a surge in
sexual violence against women, highlighted by the fatal December
gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in
Delhi.
Meanwhile, Indian police have reported a rise in
the number of women applying for gun licences.
They said most of the applications are professional
women, reported The Telegraph.
One officer, who asked not to be named, said that
while there were 44 applications to own handguns from women in the
whole of last year, they had received 21 applications in the last
three months alone.
He expected the total number of license
applications to more than double this year.
News, The New Paper, Thursday, April 4 2013, Pg 19
