MHA issues draft guidelines for police buildings under rights of PwDs

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday issued draft guidelines for MHA specific built infrastructure and Associated Services for Police Stations, Prisons and Disaster Mitigation Centers to ensure disabled people can access the buildings and their services at ease.

The notice reads that MHA is in the process of finalizing the Accessibility Standards or guidelines for MHA specific built infrastructure and Associated Services for Police Stations, Prisons and Disaster Mitigation Centers for notification under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

"Ministry of Home Affairs solicits comments or feedback from stakeholders or public in respect of the draft Standards, Guidelines by December 12, 2021. The comments or feedback may be forwarded preferably on the email ID; usc2-mha@mha.gov.in or sent in hard copy to MHA," the notice reads.

Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) has framed standards/guidelines for MHA specific built infrastructures and associated services for police stations, prisons and Disaster mitigation centres under Accessible India Campaign (AIC) 2021.

"Model accessible police station is a welcoming space for any citizen but more particularly for the persons with disabilities. Fully accessible entrance, reception areas, ramps, signage, toilets, etc. are the hallmark of an accessible police station. At least one trained person who should be deployed only for the purposes of making visits of the PwDs as comfortable as possible," the draft reads.

Common facilities in modern police station buildings under revised norms include 24 x 7 CCTV monitoring of lockup rooms.

"Each Police Station shall have lockups as per the NHRC guidelines for men and women separately. The lockups shall be provided with an internal toilet with low walls. The edges of the wall shall be rounded and there shall be no sharp element in the lockups with which the person in the lockup can harm himself. All the Lockups should be monitored through CCTV cameras which should be operational 24X7 as being done in police stations in some south Indian states," reads the draft.

( With inputs from ANI )