June 2022, Gurugram: Phree For Safety, a global mobile application that harnesses consumer safety ratings in real time, has launched a two-month long campaign to enhance women safety in Gurugram. The campaign was kickstarted with an on-ground activation event at CyberHub to demonstrate the efficacy of Phree for Safety App, and how it can potentially make the public places in Gurugram safe. Gurugram is a home to many corporate hubs where women work in large numbers, and their agenda revolves around the safety of women in and around the city.

Lately, there has been a great upsurge in crime against women everywhere. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 371,503 cases of crimes against women were registered across the country last year, and 221 rape cases in Gurugram alone.

The soaring incidents of crimes against women in Gurugram led filmmaker Madhureeta Anand to launch Phree for Safety, a mobile app that lets users rate places for safety – thereby creating a safety ecosystem for women.

The on-ground activation was accomplished by a group of 20 women in the age group of 18-25 years. The women wore Phree for Safety T-shirts and encouraged, facilitated and promoted smartphone users to download Phree for Safety mobile app and mark places in CyberHub/CyberCity as safe and unsafe. They also conducted a survey to understand the reasons for why people consider spaces safe or unsafe. This data was then fed into the app so that consumers may benefit from it.

On the launch, Founder Madhureeta Anand, who is also an award-winning filmmaker, conceived the idea of Phree for Safety app to make a safer world for her teenage daughter and wpme across the city.

“The Phree For Safety App aims to provide holistic safety for women. It began from Gurgaon where I thought about founding Phree For Safety app due to the unsafe environment. It is a wonderful coincidence that we are back here to start its journey to populate the app and encourage its use to make Gurgaon safe. It’s been six years and I am absolutely delighted that a dream has now found shape and will benefit millions in years to come”.

“We have been putting our continuous efforts in making this campaign a success, a win-win situation for all of us women. The community of women/men who are on the app will rate in the App. Women will rate areas and establishments according to how safe they think they are. And suggest routes and ways to commute that are safe. This App unleashes a new power to the users to apprise each other, based on their personal or secondary experiences, about their perception of safety”, she added.

CEO & Co-founder Mr. Ashoka Holla who has more than 25 years of experience in the media and filmed entertainment business also shares, “The app is targeted to make women of our society more empowered and confident. Unsafe places are marked red, the safe ones are marked blue and the unrated places are in grey. The app also has an SOS feature. In future we want to discuss with authorities like the Police Department among others for a tie-up to give it a 360-degree support.”

Phree for Safety also has a 6-member advisory board with extensive experience across investment, technology and social impact.