Bengaluru, 29 April

The Bengaluru city police on Wednesday announced the launch of an advanced multilingual AI capability integrated into its 112 Emergency Response Support System.

Launched by Home Minister G Parameshwara, the system is being claimed as a first-of-its-kind emergency response initiative by the Bengaluru Police.

Police said Bengaluru is home to people from across the country and around the world.

In critical moments, however, language differences can become a barrier to accessing emergency assistance.

“Recognising this challenge, Namma 112 has now been enhanced with Multilingual Voice AI for Nationwide Key Interventions (VANKI), a pioneering solution designed to ensure that language is never an obstacle during emergencies. This initiative represents a first-of-its-kind integration in India, aimed at making emergency communication seamless, inclusive, and efficient,” the Bengaluru Police said in a statement.

Officials said that through this innovative system, callers can communicate in their preferred language, enabling real-time understanding of their situation.

“The technology assists call handlers by instantly interpreting and relaying critical information, ensuring faster response times, improved clarity, and accurate deployment of emergency services. This transformative initiative has been developed in collaboration with Monday Ventures and Aeos, reflecting a strong partnership between technology innovators and law enforcement to serve the public better,” it said.

The multilingual system currently supports Bengali, Gujarati, Odia, and Manipuri, along with widely spoken international languages like Spanish, French and Arabic, police said.

The platform will continue to expand its language capabilities in a phased manner, they said.