GUJRAT: Police have sought the establishment of women and juvenile facilitation centres at tehsil level to replicate the existing district level facility in Gujrat.

The idea to expand the facility was shared by the senior police officers in an interactive session with the diplomats from Norwegian embassy, Islamabad, as well as the officials of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at Police Lines here on Wednesday.

The first-ever women and juvenile facilitation centre had been established in Gujrat in collaboration with the UNODC and funds for the project were provided by the Norwegian embassy in December 2019.

Gujrat District Police Officer Umar Salamat briefed the delegation about the working of the centre and proposed establishment of such centres for the protection of vulnerable segments of society.

The centre was set up for the protection of sexually abused women and children where facilities like first aid, psychological support, legal consultation, protection, referral and rehabilitation were provided under one roof.

The delegation comprised Ms Vigdis Heloversen (Norwegian embassy’s first secretary for development programmes), Mr. Per Martin Bjartan (Nordic police liaison officer), Baitullah Khan (programme manager police), Mr. Saeed Hussain Shah (programme coordinator) from UNODC.

Centre in-charge sub-inspector Farzana Kausar also briefed the delegation about the working of the centre and the facilities provided to the affected.

The delegation also visited the crime scene unit (CSU) located in Police Lines.

The CSU had earlier been provided a well-equipped vehicle by the UNODC with the Norwegian funding in 2016.

However during the fresh visit more crime scene kits such as finger print kit, blood detection kit, bullet trajectory kit, footprint lifting kit, first aid kit, fire extinguisher kit and gloves were handed over to the Gujrat police by the delegation.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2022