PANIC buttons will have to be fitted on all India’s public buses to curb sex attacks on women, the transport minister said last Wednesday (25).
The transport ministry said it would issue a formal order this week making the emergency measures on public buses mandatory.
“To ensure the safety of women after the unfortunate incident, we have decided to make it mandatory for public transport buses to install emergency panic buttons, CCTV cameras and GPS-enabled vehicle tracking devices,” Nitin Gadkari said in New Delhi.
He was referring to the brutal gang rape of a student in December 2012 as she returned home from the cinema with a friend.
Rajasthan is the first state in India to have such buses, with 20 vehicles fitted with the new safety measures
Panic buttons are placed above the front doors which, when pressed, send an emergency message to a police control room. They can then view live foot- age of the bus interior..
