Room coolers installed in police lockups

Cold drinking water also arranged for prisoners at police stations

RAWALPINDI:

Often maligned for their callous attitude towards detainees, the Rawalpindi police has started installing air and water coolers in the lockups of several police stations of the city to provide detainees with some respite from the heat.

With the mercury hovering at around 40 degrees Celsius, the measure has been taken to provide relief to suspects who have been locked up for interrogation.

A Rawalpindi police spokesperson said that suspects kept in police custody for physical remand will now not have to bear the sweltering heat. He added that the room coolers and water coolers have been installed on the directions of the City Police Officer (CPO) Ahsan Younus. He added that if several suspects are housed in a lockup at the same time, it starts becoming unbearably hot and can lead to difficulties.

In the first phase, the air and water coolers have been installed in the lockups of Ganjmandi, Newtown, Ratta Amral, Pirwadhai, Waris Khan, Sadiqabad, Civil Lines, Wah Cantt, Kallar Syedan and Saddar police stations.

Further, CPO Younus has directed to ensure the provision of basic facilities in police stations, the spokesperson said.

“The Rawalpindi police believes in ‘hate crime, not the criminal’ policy,” Younus said.

CPO also issued directions to all SHOs to pay special attention to the cleanliness in lockups and provide facemasks to inmates.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2020.