The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) on Saturday inspected some police stations located at three districts, namely Imphal West, Kakching and Thoubal and have expressed disappointment over the functioning of the police stations.
Led by MHRC chairperson Utpalendu Bikas Saha and assisted by commission member Kangjam Khagendra Singh and law officers, the team visited Singjamei PS, Lilong PS, Pallel PS and Thoubal PS.
Singjamei Police Station, Imphal West
During their visit to Singjamei Police Station in Imphal West, the MHRC team found few police personnel present and that the male lock-up was blocked with cupboards filled with unused materials, while female lock-up was found shared with women police personnel as there was no separate lock-up for females.
Seeing the scenario of the police station, the chairperson expressed disappointment and advised the in-charge of the station to clear the cupboard kept in front of the lock-up.
Lilong Police Station, Thoubal
At Lilong police station, the chairperson found the second officer-in-charge (OC) without uniform and that there was no toilet inside the lock-up. And though there was a separate lock-up for women, it was not maintained properly.
The MHRC team also found that some of the seized items were kept near the lock-up instead of keeping them in the ‘Malkhana’ (store room).
Pallel Police Station, Kakching
At Pallel Police Station, the team, once again, found few police personnel present during the office hour. While inspecting the female lock-up, the commission found many unused items stored in it which disappointed the chairperson.
The chairperson and his team also found that the male lock-up of Thoubal police station was not maintained properly and in a similar condition with Singjamei police station where cupboards filled with unused materials were seen in front of the lock-up door.
Women Police Station Thoubal
While inspecting the women police station at Thoubal, the inspection team found the lock-up in the worst condition, similar to that of Pallel police station. The police personnel of the station made a complaint to the chairperson that due to unavailability of separate toilets for women police personnel, the women police personnel have to use the toilet installed inside the lock-up room.
During the whole inspection, the MHRC chairperson expressed disappointment on seeing the improperly maintained general dairy (GD) entry.
It may be mentioned that during the recent Manipur Legislative Assembly budget session, the House had passed a sum of Rs 2432,27,41,000 as grant for the year 2023-24 for the development and welfare of the Police Department.
