Going a step beyond silent walks and protest marches, a Calcutta boy and his two friends have designed an undergarment that can act as a shock shield against sexual assault.

Niladri Basu Bal, studying engineering at Sri Ramaswamy Memorial University in Chennai, and two friends — Rimpi Tripathi and Manisha Mohan — have come up with Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE) lingerie, which will emit shocks to a harasser.

While Niladri and Rimpi (from Assam) are studying instrumentation and control, Manisha (from Chandigarh) is studying automobile engineering.

The young innovators explained the concept behind the safety-first lingerieto t2.

THE TECHNOLOGY

“A 5-volt battery has been set just below the cleavage and there are terminals on each bosom. These terminals get activated when someone forcibly puts pressure on the bosom, thus giving him the shock of his life!” said Niladri.

From making it washable to ensuring that SHE is safe and does not harm the wearer, the students are working out all the aspects.

“There will be three layers. The inner layer will have a padded insulator, the outer layer will have Thor material, the terminals will be in between these two layers. Thor is a washable material, which is why we opted for it. The terminals can be removed when the garment is being washed and re-attached,” added Niladri, an ex-student of South Point High School and DPS Ruby Park.

HUG VS HARASS

To prevent people from getting a shock in return for a friendly hug, the trio have developed a self-activation button, which will be placed near the waist. This button can be switched off when a woman feels she is in a safe environment.

The plan is also to place biosensors in SHE. “This will have the baseline of a person’s normal pulse and heart rate. Sometimes a woman feels she is in a safe environment but she actually isn’t. In such a case, if she switches off the self-activation button and then faces danger, the biosensor cells will get activated. For example, if one is scared, the heartbeat goes up and then if someone puts pressure on the bosom, the circuit automatically gets activated,” said Niladri.

SOS SIGNAL

There is more to SHE. It will also have GPS (Global Positioning System) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) that will trace the nearest police station and instantly send a message to the police station and to an emergency contact number provided by the woman.

“The device will have a SIM card attached to it. The moment an undesirable pressure is experienced, an “In danger” text message and the location of the user will be sent to both places,” explained Niladri.

THE BACKSTORY

The idea came to the 20-year-olds in their college cafeteria. “In Bollywood, actors wear dresses that have lights and bulbs on them, so we knew what we could work on. We wanted to make an invention for a social purpose. The Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award 2013 by Techpedia drew our attention. We did a survey in the girls’ hostel and found that the bosom was the first place that women are prone to be attacked. Thus the concept of SHE came up and the best way was to shock the attacker,” said Manisha.

THE CAUSE

The students refuse to reveal further details, pointing out that giving out all the technical aspects may result in criminals being forewarned. There’s been interest about their product in the industry but the youngsters don’t want to sell out.

“We are getting offers from some top global lingerie brands but we will not sell our idea as this is a social concept. They’ll purchase the idea and sell the products at exorbitant rates,” said Niladri, a die-hard football and Chelsea fan.

So when do they plan to get this lingerie in the market and how much will it cost?

“We prepared the entire thing in just six days, we need to make it more advanced. Once that is done we will request the government to help us. The government allots a certain amount for social purposes. We will be able to reduce our production costs with their support,” Niladri said.

THE HOPE

“The ‘anti-rape’ lingerie sounds appealing... If they succeed in producing such a bra, at last women can feel safe as it will discourage men from physically harassing them. It’ll be a bra with superpowers!” said Jadavpur University student Abhinanda Datta.

THE WORRY

Though excited about the concept, Roshni Ali of St. Xavier’s College expressed some concerns. “Will it be practical to use it on an everyday basis... like switching on and off the control button each time you want to hug someone? What about when you are in a crowded bus and you bump into an old lady?”

“Another question is how strong will the shock be? Imagine a situation where the rapist gets a mild shock, knows you are in an anti-rape bra, so decides to target the lower portion of your body?”

SWATI GAUTAM, lingerie consultant and t2 columnist

On the face of it, a wonderful idea! But, what if there’s force applied on the straps and the bra is yanked away? Also, it seems that so many layers of material would be quite inappropriate for a humid climate like ours. Moreover, the wearer has to be very careful about activating the ‘off’ mode before entering a safe environment or she may accidentally hurt people. To sum it up, it’s a great idea to have a bra that repels unwanted attention, but a bra being the most complicated garment ever, this idea needs some fine-tuning.