One out of three women in India receives sexual & offensive calls or SMS: Truecaller

According to a new study by Truecaller, one out of three (36 percent) women in India is receiving sexual and inappropriate calls or SMS.

The study showed that 78 percent of women claimed to receive harassment calls with inappropriate and sexual content at least once a week, and 82 percent claimed to receive unsolicited videos and pictures with inappropriate and sexual content at least once a week.

The study said across key cities also revealed that 28 percent of women from Delhi have reported receiving harassment calls and SMS every week, making it the highest in India.

It said on average, 50 percent of these calls and texts were anonymous, 11 percent were made by stalkers, and 3 percent were from a person known to them.

In particular, 90 percent of respondents in Jaipur reported receiving calls and texts with offensive and sexual imagery or videos on a weekly basis, making it the highest in India.

Furthermore, the study also highlighted that to two-thirds (65 percent) of women reported feeling angry or irritated by harassment calls, while almost one-fourth (22 percent) felt troubled, worried or offended.

The most common (65 percent) was observed to tackle this problem was to block the harasser's number, install a call blocking app (48 percent) or search for the number online (41 percent).

Truecaller's Global Brand Manager, Lindsey LaMont, said, "Sexual harassment through messages and calls is a worldwide issue that has not been addressed. In fact, it seems to have become normalized that many women are able to share their experience about receiving disturbing unwanted messages with sexual content or advances from strangers. Our campaign is to bring awareness around the issue, to encourage discussion, and to make a societal impact that this behavior is not OK."