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In India, an App That Summons a Private Security Force

A One Touch Response First Response team in New Delhi.

A One Touch Response First Response team in New Delhi.

Photographer: Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg
Bianca Vázquez Toness

Sasha Singh was driving home alone from a wedding on the outskirts of New Delhi late one night in November when a tire blew.

Three young men offered to help, but Singh found them unsettling. When they refused to leave, the 35-year-old locked her car doors, pulled out her smartphone and clicked on an application connecting her to One Touch Response, a private emergency service. The men jeered as she waited for help.