India: plans to install panic buttons in all cell phones

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India's telecommunications ministry has said all mobile phones sold in the country from 2017 must include a panic button.

It is part of a wider campaign to enhance the safety of women, in the light of growing concerns about levels of sexual violence in the country.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said: "Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women?"

The National Crime Records Bureau said there were 337,922 reports of violence against women, including rape, molestation, abduction and cruelty in 2014, including 36,000 rapes, a rise of 9% on the previous year's figures.


It is not yet clear how the panic button system will work but it is likely to allow customers to call the emergency services by either pressing a single button or by pressing the power button several times in succession.