Government chalks up plan to protect police evidence

The report, Malkhana Management System, prepared by the apex police think-tank and approved by the MHA, has recommended the use of RFID tags, bar codes/QR codes, and 24x7 CCTV monitoring of the seized property kept inside theMalkhanas, which are the repositories of seized evidence.

With the mountain of evidence seized during police investigations and stockpiled in the Malkhanas of 16,670-odd police stations reaching unmanageable proportions, the ministry of home affairs has chalked out a plan to protect the assets, which are of considerable financial and evidentiary value, from decay, pilferage, theft and embezzlement.

Police officers stop commuters at Girgaum Chowpatty during the night curfew in Mumbai. (PTI)

The report, Malkhana Management System, prepared by the apex police think-tank and approved by the MHA, has recommended the use of RFID tags, bar codes/QR codes, and 24x7 CCTV monitoring of the seized property kept inside theMalkhanas, which are the repositories of seized evidence. The plan has already been shared with states and Union territories.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) report asserts that Malkhanas plays a key role in the criminal justice system.

“Failure to manage the evidence/seized property can affect the successful prosecution of criminal cases, resulting in law enforcement agency liability and loss of public confidence. The incidents of theft, replacement, pilferage, embezzlement and destruction of the seized property on account of the wholly unsatisfactory and unscientific methods of storage taint reputation of law enforcement agencies. At times, explosions have occurred due to unscientific storage of explosives atMalkhana,” said the report.

It stated that items seized by the police or kept inside Malkhanas during pending trials or after convictions and which have not been disposed of should be kept in paper/plastic envelopes/containers with proper labels, a description of the items/items, quantity, case number, date of seizure, place from where it was seized, and name of the investigating officer.

It suggested the installation of compactors in Malkhanas for ensuring safe storage. For QR coding of items, it has recommended following the Andhra Pradesh police model, which has put in place detailed standard operating procedure (SOP).

The management of Malkhanas, BPRD said, has become increasingly complex because of several factors: the large volume of evidence being collected, absence of adequate space and safe storage systems, preservation of biological/DNA-related material, and lack of training for personnel posted there.

For example, currently, there are 599,000 items kept in Delhi’s 208 police stations. A Delhi Police officer, requesting anonymity, said there was no exact data of seizure on each item, but the maximum number of items were typically liquor and cars/bikes.

“There could be around 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles in Delhi’s police stations,” the officer said.

The arms and ammunition are also stored in Malkhanas. The BPRD has recommended proper tagging and lockers for these as well.

Among the seized property, vehicles usually occupy substantial space in police stations because of prolonged trials or because they have been left unclaimed by their owners. They are parked in the open and are prone to rapid natural decay on account of weather conditions as well as theft. BPRD has recommended using the Kerala Police model by creating centralised vehicle yards in each district of the states to park the seized vehicles.

BPRD asked police forces to follow Supreme Court directions on storing seized and prohibited drugs in the police stations by creating a separate exclusive storage.

With use of biological and technical evidence becoming ever important, the MHA think-tank has said that there should be a separate refrigerated storage at every police station for biological evidence and electrostatic bags with labels and tagging for electronic evidence.

It said there was also an urgent need to revisit the police manuals/regulations in the light of changes in laws, forensics/technology, and judicial pronouncements to frame a written policy and bring out a procedural manual on maintaining Malkhanas.

The report said if Malkhanas are maintained efficiently, it would reduce the burden on the state exchequer as a result of saving where evidence is stored and ensuring timely justice.

“It is true that seized items are decaying in the police stations due to improper handling and training,” said N Rao, a retired Delhi Police deputy commissioner of police. “The police stations have limited space and items are not claimed by owners for years. Such a report by BPRD should be implemented for better management.”