India sees a rape every 15 minutes. However, the fear of police, social stigma, and complex legal processes often prevent women and girls from reporting abuse. In response to the alarming reality that one in three women will experience sexual assault, Elsa Marie D’Silva founded Safecity. Later, Supreet K Singh joined as the co-founder after the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Jyoti Singh (Nirbhaya).
In this exclusive conversation with changeincontent.com, Supreet shares how Safecity tackles the underreporting of sexual and gender-based violence by creating safe spaces for survivors. She candidly shares how certain changes in media content can break down stereotypes and reshape narratives surrounding women.
About Supreet K Singh: The visionary behind Safecity
Supreet K Singh, co-founder of Red Dot Foundation and Beyond Black, is on a mission to create safer, more equal spaces through storytelling and advocacy. For over 15 years, she has balanced a successful corporate career with her passion for social impact. Her childhood memories of women supporting one another laid the foundation for her advocacy, eventually leading to her co-founding the Red Dot Foundation’s SafeCity initiative.
Supreet K Singh: From personal experience to Safecity
Drawing from her personal experiences and conversations post-Nirbhaya, Supreet K Singh shares how Safecity, the flagship program of Red Dot Foundation, was created to give women a platform to report harassment.
Q: What inspired you to start Safecity?
I was the first Indian woman in a managerial position for an alcohol and liquor company. Later, I was promoted to Marketing Manager and transferred to London. Soon after, I faced sexual harassment from the company’s CEO. I reported it, but the company didn’t have a sexual harassment policy, leaving them unsure of how to address the situation. Without any redressal, I eventually chose to step away from the position.
The company offered me a job in one of its subsidiaries, but I chose to return to Mumbai. There, I joined the airline segment as a Trade Marketing Manager. It was here that I met Elsa Marie D’Silva.
After the Nirbhaya case, Elsa and I spoke to many women. While both of us had been vocal about our experiences, many of the women we met had faced sexual harassment but never reported it. There were several reasons for this.
Some didn’t even realise they were experiencing harassment. They didn’t recognise that teasing, catcalling, blocking their path, or following them were crimes. Others who knew were afraid of victim-blaming. Women were often asked why they wore certain clothes or had male friends. There was pressure to quit school, not work, or marry instead. Victims were expected to change their lives, while perpetrators faced no consequences.
While it’s well-known that one in three women globally faces sexual violence, 85 to 90% of those cases go unreported. Safecity was created to bridge the gap between the actual instances of sexual harassment and the cases reported to authorities.
Q: Can you explain how the app supports women in reporting harassment?
Our Safecity app is available globally and free of cost. The app follows international privacy laws across the 22 countries we operate in, and we’re highly conscious of user privacy. The app has undergone several changes to make the reporting process more empathetic. The questions are designed to feel more personal, so users don’t feel they are just mechanically filling out a form.
Initially, we offered a missed call facility for those without smartphones or sufficient funds, particularly in rural India. They could give us a missed call, and we would call back to collect their reports. However, with the widespread availability of smartphones, we now receive fewer missed calls and more app-based reports. To date, we’ve gathered over 55,000 reports globally, with most coming from India.
We started working in Mumbai, as both Elsa and I are based there, and later expanded to Delhi. We’ve since done projects in Goa, Pune, Satara, Chennai, Haryana, Faridabad, and Patna, including three nearby villages. Once we receive reports, we share them with authorities and communities through our website and app. This collaboration has helped the police increase surveillance in hotspots and adjust beat patrol timings in several cities, including Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Patna, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
Q: Have there been any setbacks in scaling up Safecity’s reach and effectiveness?
While the app is accessible to anyone, encouraging survivors to report incidents can be challenging because discussing sexual violence is deeply personal and traumatic. We’ve found that our on-ground activities and projects drive the most app engagement. When people meet our team, they feel more confident about using the app because they see a trustworthy, human presence behind it. Whenever we have active on-ground projects, our report numbers rise significantly.
We also run programs year-round to train ambassadors and safety champions, including interns and volunteers from schools, colleges, and even corporations. We teach them how to use the Safecity app, and they, in turn, spread awareness within their communities, families, and friends. These ambassadors help bring in more reports and extend our reach.
Funding has been a big challenge for Safecity. Many companies set yearly CSR agendas, and sexual violence rarely makes the list. This has made it hard to get steady financial support, but the team stays determined and finds creative ways to keep the platform running.
Supreet K Singh on DEI conversations and training
Supreet shares her take on DEI, saying, “While progress may slow, the conversation isn’t stopping.”
Q: How do you see the future of DEI in India, especially with shrinking budgets and increasing corporate tokenism?
Many companies follow trends from the U.S., and changes there often affect DEI policies worldwide. While some companies have cut DEI budgets, the buzz around DEI has created more awareness. Everyone wants to be seen as gender-equitable or progressive, even if they don’t have the funds or don’t take big actions.
NGOs like ours keep driving DEI conversations through all our projects, not just DEI-focused ones. When we train people, we also talk about digital safety and DEI. In the corporate world, many want to be seen as allies, even if their actions are limited. Some government policies have also evolved, such as railway bookings offering a third-gender option. Companies like Godrej, Axis Bank, and HDFC are already moving forward. While the pace of change might slow, the progress won’t stop because awareness has already begun.
Q: You mentioned training people on DEI under your initiatives; how does that work?
We train students, including those in the LGBTIQ+ community, on DEI concepts like inclusivity, diversity, equity, and creating safer spaces for everyone. We follow a structured format with content designed to help them recognise their subconscious biases and how those can lead to unequal or inaccessible behaviour. The training also covers best practices they can follow as students to promote fairness and inclusivity.
Q: What steps does Safecity take to ensure inclusivity across different groups of women?
We don’t discriminate on any basis when conducting our workshops, whether they’re in colleges, communities, or even on the streets during our surveys. The participants can be anyone—trans women, sex workers, or others. We’ve worked in Kamathipura and are currently running a project there as well.
The app asks optional questions like, “Do you think you were targeted because of your gender?” Users can choose to answer or skip these. We also include questions about faith or origin because, for example, Northeastern women often face violence in North India, particularly Delhi. The goal is to ensure users feel comfortable sharing as much or as little as they wish.
Supreet K Singh talks about promoting responsible media creation
Supreet K Singh believes that teaching digital safety in schools should be mandatory, along with lessons on sexual violence and laws to help children stay safe online and offline.
“Even at a young age, kids can learn about good and bad touch—I’ve taught my niece these concepts since she was four.”
Q: How do you view the role of AI in content creation, especially with concerns about misogyny in AI-driven spaces?
As we all shift to a more digital world with AI already here, it’s essential to adopt best practices for staying safe online. Schools should make digital safety a mandatory part of the curriculum, along with lessons on sexual violence and laws surrounding it.
Bollywood also plays a massive role in shaping perceptions. Many films portray stalking or invasive behaviour as romantic, which kids may absorb. Starting a film appreciation course in schools around the 9th or 10th grade could help students recognise problematic behaviours in media without imitating them. Teaching kids to separate on-screen behaviour from reality would reduce the negative impact of such portrayals.
Q: Social media reaches over 60% of the country’s youth but often promotes stereotypes against women while claiming to offer fresh, new-age content. In fact, the media, especially social media, seems to be undergoing some sort of regression. What’s your perspective on this?
We created a five-minute film with Ogilvy and Mather, titled Bioscope Stories vs Bollywood, in partnership with India’s top women illustrators. The idea was to show that harassment should lead to jail, not love. Bollywood often portrays harassment as a “charming” way for a hero to pursue women, which sends the wrong message. Our goal was to challenge this stereotype through creative storytelling.
Women have long been stereotyped in Bollywood, which has historically had the most significant cultural impact in India. Today, social media, including reels and other content, holds that influence. Influencers, who now drive much of the content, often focus on what will bring in likes and followers, with little regard for the messaging or its impact.
However, there is some positive change. Certain filmmakers have become more aware of the influence of their content. For instance, prominent filmmakers have publicly apologised for how the regressive portrayal and objectification of women portrayed women in past films. We’re also seeing more films centred around women in roles that break stereotypes. Change is happening, but it will take time. More people must step up, acknowledge their role, and contribute to this shift.
Q: What changes can be made?
The CBFC already censors films, but why not review films at the storyboard stage instead of waiting until production is complete? Once the script is locked and the storyboard finalised, changes become difficult. Reviewing at the storyboard stage would allow for adjustments early on. If a stereotype is necessary for the story, that’s understandable for creative freedom. However, the authorities can consider removing unnecessary harmful content at this stage.
Similarly, content approval boards could step in during the scripting phase, much like the censor board does for films. Many creators don’t realise the harmful tropes they’re reinforcing, as they’ve been conditioned to include them in their work. Addressing these issues during scripting would allow creators to justify scenes or make necessary edits early on.
Supreet K Singh on the need for systemic changes: A path to better media
Systemic changes are essential. For example, platforms could introduce mandatory e-learning courses before granting blue ticks or large followings. These courses could test creators on whether their content promotes misogyny, phobia, or harmful stereotypes. Platforms like Instagram and other social media outlets haven’t explored this option, but it could make a significant impact.
Advertising agencies could also adopt similar guidelines. While they often rely on client approval to sell scripts, agencies could implement checks to ensure campaigns are gender-positive. Just as companies now file annual POSH reports, agencies could report on how their campaigns promote positive, non-stereotypical messaging. They should follow clear guidelines to avoid putting out content that promotes misogyny or harmful stereotypes unless the context is necessary to the story.
Ultimately, those in authority need to take responsibility and enforce systemic policies that promote responsible content creation. Without these changes, the fight against harmful stereotypes will remain an ongoing battle.
Q: What keeps you going?
Personal experiences like seeing the changes that we experienced among the respondents are something that keeps me going. I will tell you a personal experience. During one of our community-driven safety activations, a boy sneaked into the place where girls were sharing their experience of not being able to use the solo toilet that was there without being violated in some form or another. These were difficult conversations. In a small community, the offender is always known to the woman or the girl. Just hearing how the girls felt had made the boy one of our best change advocates. Sometimes, support from the community or the police had been so heartwarming.
I will also discuss yoga. Being a Sivananda yoga teacher has been a transformative and healing experience for me. I believe that following yoga principles and having a steady practice keep me going. These, along with my work, artistic expressions, and belief that I am making a difference, keep me going.
Summing up: A perspective from Changeincontent.com
Supreet’s journey with Safecity is a powerful reminder that real change comes from empathy and action. Safecity creates spaces for women to speak up and be heard, helping to break the silence around harassment and violence.
“Survivors often face victim-blaming, while perpetrators face no consequences. It’s time to change that,” Supreet says. At changeincontent.com, we are honoured to share voices like Supreet’s that push for change and challenge unfair systems.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content. We broadly define inclusivity as media, policies, law, and history—encompassing all elements that influence the lives of women and marginalised individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.
