Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 23: Tvarra, a women-focused mobility and protective-gear brand, today launched Tvarita Bharti, a citizen-led petition campaign seeking 1 lakh signatures to demand safer roads and public spaces for women across India.
The campaign comes at a time when the safety of women riders has come under renewed public attention following the recent Gurugram incident in which a woman biker was injured after a car allegedly followed and collided with her motorcycle on Golf Course Road. The incident, captured on camera, has led to wider conversations among women riders about harassment, aggressive driving, road rage and the challenges women can face while travelling alone.
Recent reporting has also documented women riders describing experiences including being followed, tailgated, provoked, aggressively overtaken and subjected to unwanted attention while riding.
“A woman should not have to think twice before stepping out,” said Alpana Parida, Founder & CEO, Tvarra. “Whether she is riding a motorcycle, taking a scooter to work, travelling alone or simply returning home, safety should not depend on how carefully she restricts her own life. We need to make the roads safer, not make women’s lives smaller.” She has urged citizens of India to join this movement by signing up on tvarra.com/pages/tvarita-bharti
FIVE DEMANDS FOR CHANGE
1. ZERO TOLERANCE FOR HARASSMENT AND DANGEROUS DRIVING
Prompt investigation and strict enforcement against proven harassment, intimidation, stalking and dangerous driving, including applicable licence action and criminal proceedings.
2. WOMEN-LED PATROLS ON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
Greater deployment of dedicated women police patrol teams, including two-wheeler patrols, particularly in identified hotspots, vulnerable stretches and areas with recurring complaints.
3. SWIFT, PROPORTIONATE AND SUFFICIENT PUNISHMENT
Effective use of existing legal provisions and penalties so that proven acts of dangerous driving, harassment and intimidation have meaningful consequences and create deterrence.
4. CELEBRITY CAMPAIGNS TO CHALLENGE TOXIC MASCULINITY
Tvarra is calling on actors, athletes, creators, musicians and other influential public figures to use their reach to challenge behaviours such as harassment, intimidation, aggressive driving and following women, and to promote respectful masculinity through the #DefineRealMan campaign.
5. THOSE IN POWER MUST SPEAK UP — AND ACT
The campaign calls upon the Prime Minister, Union and State Governments, police authorities, elected representatives and institutions responsible for public safety to acknowledge the everyday challenges women face and take concrete action to improve safety and accountability.
Sign the Petition on tvarra.com/pages/tvarita-bharti and join the movement.
BUILDING ON EXISTING SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE
Tvarra’s demands build on safety mechanisms that already exist within India’s public-safety framework. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Safe City projects include measures such as crime-hotspot identification, CCTV surveillance linked to command-and-control centres, women police outposts, patrols by women police in vulnerable areas and Women Help Desks.
MHA’s Safe City framework has also included technology such as automated number-plate recognition, all-women patrol teams and gender-sensitisation and legal-literacy campaigns.
Tvarita Bharti seeks stronger visibility, implementation, coordination and accountability around such measures, particularly as they relate to women’s everyday mobility.
1 LAKH SIGNATURES. ONE COLLECTIVE DEMAND.
Tvarra aims to collect 1,00,000 signatures from citizens who believe that women should be able to ride, travel and use public spaces without fear of harassment, intimidation or violence.
Once the petition reaches 1 lakh signatures, Tvarra intends to formally compile and submit the petition and collected signatures to relevant public authorities, including the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Women & Child Development, seeking greater attention to women’s safety and mobility in public spaces.
“This cannot be just Tvarra’s movement,” added Alpana Parida, Founder & CEO, Tvarra. “We want women to sign for themselves, men to sign for the women in their lives, and citizens across India to add their voice. One signature may feel small. One lakh signatures can make the demand impossible to ignore.”
SIGN THE PETITION
Join Tvarita Bharti: tvarra.com/pages/tvarita-bharti
Campaign: #TvaritaBharti
Supporting campaigns: #LetWomenRide #DefineRealMan
ABOUT TVARRA
Tvarra is a women-focused mobility and protective-gear brand working to make riding safer and more accessible for women. Its helmet meets the highest safety standard in India for women. Through Tvarita Bharti, Tvarra is expanding that mission beyond products to advocate for safer roads and public spaces where women can move freely and without fear.
