'Pepper spray' becomes self-defence tool for women techies

Thiruvananthapuram: Sprays are not just fragrance-carriers but could be self-defence tools for women techies, if they are "peppered."

The number of employees buying and keeping "pepper" spray, made of ingredients like hot chilly, to protect themselves from attacks when they return home after late office hours are on the increase in Kerala.

A campaign to promote the use of pepper spray has been launched in Kerala's IT-hub Technopark here in the wake of widespread concern caused by rape and death of a 23-year-old working woman on a train near Shornur earlier this month.

The spray, which comes in aerosol container, can spew out chilly liquid to a distance of five to seven feet, technopark employees said.

The pepper spray is being distributed in the IT campus as part of an awareness campaign initiated by Technopark employees' community website, 'Technopark Today', jointly on with the security firm Rampart.

S.Suryajith, a Technopark employee and a prime-mover of the campaign, said recent attack and death of the woman passenger in train had prompted them to think about this self-defence mechanism.

"If that victim had a self-defence tool like pepper spray with her, she could have thwarted the attack by the man. Such shocking situation may happen to any girl anywhere these days," Suryajith said.

Many employees in Technopark have to travel even during night and wee hours to meet their duty schedules. As the campus is located 10 KM away from the city, they had often to commute by taxis or autorickshas to reach home. But, many feel the night travel is not always safe, especially for women.

"In such situations, an easy-to-handle self-defece device like pepper spray will give them courage to travel alone and to attend the work. Though we have begun the campaign solely for technopark employees, we are now getting calls even from outside Kerala requesting pepper spray," he said.

Doctors, lawyers, students and households who live in flats are among those who demand the 'defence tool', he said.

Oleoresin Capsaicin is the main ingredient in pepper sprays. The liquid is twenty times stronger than the normal chilly powder.

"As the spray container is smaller than the normal perfume bottle, it is easy to carry and keep in pockets, belt pouches or hand bags," said software professional Susmitha.

"We have already got around 150 orders on the first day itself. We make door-to-door delivery within the technopark campus and distribute the spray via online trading for outsiders," Suryajith said.

As part of the campaign, the website is running security awareness classes also for techies according to the request from units on how to handle the spray if a situation called for.