Indian techie 'exposes' horrors of gender abuse

By Ruchi Shrimali

At a time, when engineers and software developers are making big bucks by designing cool apps for smartphones and tablets, Shemeer Padinzjharedil, 29, has taken a bold step by choosing to build India's first online mapping platform - www.maps4aid.com - to document cases of gender abuse, rape, murders, and crime against women in India.

Hailing from Palakkad district in Kerala, Shemeer had set out to prove the poll results wrong that stated that India is the ‘fourth most dangerous place for women in the world. Outraged by the idea, he did his research and found that the poll was actually right.

The ‘maps4aid' documents crimes by their type and location. The website not only documents the statistics of the crime but also document the stories to awaken people to horrors of such crimes.

On an average, nine cases are verified and documented at maps4aid every day. According to the website, the most common crime is rape, with about 80% rapes being committed on minors. Harassment and deaths due to dowry come next.

Shemeer's digital platform proves that the shocking claim of U.N. Women that one third of Indian women between the age of 15 to 49 years have experienced physical violence might just be true.

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