Port Blair, Dec 15: An orientation programme to sensitise the police personnel on child friendly Police Station was held in the conference hall of Megapode Nest yesterday. This was organised by the UT Commission for Protection of child rights in collaboration with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi. The programme witnessed large participation of dignitaries, specialists and resources persons working in the field of child welfare.
Smti Kiran Tigga, Chairperson, UTCPCR welcomed the gathering on commencement of session. The programme was divided into two technical sessions. During the first session, Smti Rupa Kapoor, Member, NCPCR delivered lecture on the need for child friendly police station and child friendly policing. According to her, police stations should create a conducive environment for children, no matter the children are victims or in conflict with law. The NCPCR is in the process of drafting a comprehensive guideline for child friendly police stations in consultation with the government and will be released in near future, Mrs. Kapoor said. She also spelt out the indicators of child friendly police stations which mandate that a child welfare police officer be designated in every police station. Besides, there shall be child friendly infrastructure with attitude of police personnel being child friendly.
Dr. Rachna Bhargava, Associate Professor (Clinical Psychology), AIIMS, New Delhi and Dr. Nimesh G Desai , Director, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi delivered lecture on the aspects of psychology and mental health. They primarily dwelt on the need for child friendly police station and child friendly policing on the psychology aspects of human being.
Smti Shatabdi Pande, Resource Person moderated the Technical Session-II which stood on the implementation of the concept of child friendly police station. She also took example of the police stations in Chhattisgarh state which are well known for being child friendly. She also lauded the Police personnel of A&N Islands for being child friendly. However, she insisted upon making the police stations colorful to appeal to the tastes of the children. According to her, there is a child in every one and police men should bring out the child in them while dealing with the children in conflict. Identity of children in conflict should not be disclosed and materials on awareness creation should be displayed conspicuously in all police stations. The technical session –II was followed by a question and answer session in which queries of the police personnel on the subject matter were explained in details.
During her speech, the chief guest, Smti Nuzhat Hassan, IPS, Director General of Police asserted that the A&N Police is already sensitized towards women and children. Welcoming the proposal of the NCPCR for conducting awareness workshops for police personnel on child friendly infrastructure, the DGP expressed her happiness to collaborate with the Child Rights Commission in protecting the interests of children.
Programme ended with the valedictory speech by Mrs. Kiran Tigga, Chairperson, UTCPCR.
