Women’s safety in cabs: NCW recommends panic buttons, route alerts and 24×7 monitoring

The National Commission for Women issued safety guidelines for women using app-based cabs, recommending panic buttons, route-deviation alerts, monitoring of suspicious stoppages and 24×7 command centres. It also called for driver verification, background checks, grievance redressal and enhanced late-night monitoring

New Delhi: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday issued guidelines aimed at strengthening the safety of women using app-based cabs, recommending physical panic buttons, real-time route-deviation alerts, monitoring of prolonged or suspicious stoppages and 24×7 command and control centres by aggregators.

NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said the guidelines sought to strengthen existing safety and accountability measures at the time of booking, during the journey and after completion of the ride.

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“These guidelines seek to strengthen existing safety and accountability measures at the time of booking, during the journey and after completion of the ride, thereby ensuring the safety of women in public spaces,” she said.

The Commission urged all States and Union Territories to take appropriate measures to implement the guidelines.

The “Guidelines for Safety of Women Passengers Using App-Based and Digital Transport Mobility Services” also recommend time-bound grievance redressal, verification of drivers and vehicles, and penalty-free cancellation if there is a mismatch between the driver or vehicle details displayed on the application and those of the person or vehicle arriving for the ride.

The guidelines call for regular review of safety protocols and standard operating procedures by aggregators, escalation of complaints to law-enforcement authorities and periodic compliance and safety reporting.

“Any unauthorised change in the driver or vehicle shall be appropriately flagged in the application and treated as a safety concern,” the guidelines said.

They cited Clause 15.4 of the Motor Vehicles Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, which requires an in-app mechanism to verify the identity of the driver undertaking the journey, and Clause 14.9, which requires a clear and high-resolution picture of the driver to be displayed.

Stressing the need to build a verified pool of women drivers, the NCW said aggregators may endeavour to maintain such a pool. Subject to availability and feasibility, women travelling alone may also be provided an option to request a woman driver through the application.

Calling for enhanced security during late-night hours, the guidelines said aggregators should adopt enhanced mechanisms for verifying and monitoring drivers operating during such hours.

Measures may include mandatory driver photo verification at the start of a trip, measures to address driver intoxication, automatic sharing of ride details with trusted contacts where opted for by passengers, enhanced command and control centre monitoring and a safe-drop option at the end of the ride.

The guidelines also focus on periodic safety and gender-sensitisation training for drivers and call for verification of criminal antecedents, police verification and background checks before onboarding drivers and periodically thereafter.