The Bengal government has proposed to set up model lockups in at least one police station in each district.
According to sources at the State Secretariat, Nabanna, the plan has been mooted after the state police sent a letter to the state Public Works Department, requesting steps needed for repair work of both the male and female lockups in police stations in the state.
After receiving the letter, the state government decided to set up at least one model lockup in each district, besides carrying out repair work or renovation – as per necessity – in the existing ones.
It has been learnt that the concerned architect has already been directed to prepare a plan for the model lockup.
All the model lockups in each district will be constructed based on one single design.
An official said that the work to prepare the plan has already started and it would take another two weeks to complete the task.
As per the preliminary discussions and planning, the model lockup will be constructed in police stations which are situated in the district headquarters.
A male and a female lockup will be set up side by side, but there would be no connection between them. Each lockup will come up on an area of around 1,000 sq feet.
The model lockups will be designed in such a way that at least 10 inmates can be accommodated and there will be concrete beds for each inmate.
There will be attached toilets in the lockups. At present, there are attached toilets in lockups in all the police stations in the area under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police. However, there are many police stations in districts where there are no attached toilets in lockups.
The height of the wall separating a toilet with the main part of a lockup will be the usual, i.e. around four to five feet, so that policemen can keep a watch on an inmate inside the lockup even when the latter will go to relieve themselves.
If everything goes as planned, then there will be a record room in front of each such lockup, where a policeman will be constantly on duty to maintain a record of each and every person entering and leaving the lockup.
The district authorities will be asked to identify the most suitable police stations where the model lockup will be constructed.
The final decision will be taken as per the proposals of the district authorities.
In the first phase, model lockups will be constructed only in one police station in a district.
It is indicated that steps would later be taken to give a similar shape to lockups, even to the ones situated on a smaller area, in all police stations across the state.