NEPALGUNJ, JUNE 30
The lockup in Banke District Police Office has more detainees than its capacity.
There are 39 detainees in the detention cell with a capacity of only 35. Not only the DPO detention cell, but also juvenile rehabilitation homes and prisons are overcrowded.
Rights activists had reached the police office to know about the condition of detainees. Lawyer Basanta Gautam of Advocacy Forum and former chairman Bal Bahadur Chand of Nepalgunj High Court Bar Association are in the monitoring team. As many as 39 prisoners are kept in five small rooms and there are only two toilets. The detainees complained about the poor condition of the lockups.
Rights activist Basanta Gautam said the arrestees were facing many problems in police custody.
With the declining number of COVID cases in the district, the number of arrestees is going up. Of the 39 arrestees, as many as 24 have been accused of smuggling illegal drugs. Most of them are below the age of 40. Drug peddling has become a big problem in the district.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 1 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
