Punjab to soon have children-friendly police stations

On the recommendations of "The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights" to all the state governments to form child-friendly police stations,the crime wing of the Punjab Police has sent a proposal to the state Home department to make all police stations in the state child-friendly institutions.

Various Proposals Recommended :

• The proposal recommends setting up of a child-friendly room with special furniture for children, toys, games and decorated with posters and equipped with CCTV cameras at all the police stations.
• It include provision for audio and video recording of the statements of children and juveniles who find themselves in conflict with the law.
• Additionally, a police officer (not be below the rank of assistant sub-inspector) designated as child welfare police officer (CWPO) will be deployed at every police station.
• The stations will also have a separate facility for clean drinking water and a separate toilet.

Benefits of Children-friendly police stations:

• It will serve as an first point of contact for children when in difficult circumstances.
• It is an attempt to establish a pool of child friendly police personnel and better compliance with various legal provisions relating to child rights and child protection.
• This will also help in creating child friendly spaces where children will feel more at ease to express their problems more openly to the concerned police officials as they have nobody else especially in cases of child sexual abuse.
• This first-of-its-kind of an initiative will equip the police personnel with appropriate knowledge to effectively exercise their duty, ensure better protection of child rights and prevent the abuse of minors.

By: Harman Sandhu