Bengaluru police set up ‘child-friendly’ rooms at stations

In a bid to take forward the image that the Bengaluru police are trying to achieve of being “people friendly,” the West Division police as a pilot project have set up child-friendly rooms at three stations in their jurisdiction to provide a comfortable space for children who visit stations along with their parents .

These rooms, according to Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh, are designed not only to provide a safe and comfortable space for children, but also to create awareness about crimes against children and educate them and their parents about the safety and prevention.

“It is a move to provide special attention to women, children, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities. These are small but meaningful steps to support vulnerable groups,” Mr. Singh said, adding that the project has been launched at the Vijayanagar, Magadi Road, and Govindarajanagar police stations to begin with and it will be expanded to other stations across the city .

Officials noted that stations are also offering educational content on topics like good touch and bad touch, and trying to create a safe, positive environment through basic etiquette, awareness, and visual learning.

The child-friendly room has comfortable seating for women and children, a small play area with toys, educational cartoons, bookstands, and newspapers for senior citizens and artwork by students from Chamarajendra Government College of Visual Arts and Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat. The city police also started libraries at the stations earlier to help the visitors to utilise the waiting period.

Some of the stations also have provisions to support persons with disabilities, and stations are also being fitted with metal ramps for wheelchair access and improved waiting areas. These upgrades have already been implemented at Kamakshipalya, Magadi Road, and Vijayanagar stations, depending on available space.