Law students highlight lack of sanitation facilities for women police in Prayagraj

Though she expected things to be below par, Anjali Pandey says she was “shocked” to discover the glaring lack of sanitation facilities for women personnel in police stations in her city Prayagraj. Ms. Pandey was among the 13 women law students who petitioned the Allahabad High Court on the basis of a survey in which they found that most of the police stations — they surveyed 17 police stations and the BAR Council premises — in Prayagraj lacked basis sanitation amenities, washrooms or separate toilets for women personnel. “They [female personnel] work for everyone and are a part of the government. If they don’t get basic facilities, what can we expect for us?” asked Ms. Pandey, a third semester law student. In their “fact-finding” report titled ‘Women in the Frontline’, which includes photographs, the law students noted that out of the 18 sites they visited, only five police stations had separate washrooms for women. Among these, only one was termed “satisfactory”, while some were described as “woeful”, and “begrimed and shabby”. Even common washrooms were often not worth using or comfortable enough. “Female staff avoid using washrooms because of the awkwardness caused by the common washroom,” the report on Kydganj Police Station concluded.