Digitised Malkhanas help Delhi Police to do smart policing

BARCODED

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In a bid towards smart policing in the city, the Delhi Police have initiated the ambitious e-Malkhana project to digitise the Malkhanas in all of their 195 police stations in the national capital for faster and easier retrieval of case property and to save resources, time and energy of the police personnel handling Malkhanas in each police station.

The Malkhana is a storehouse in every police station, storing crucial evidence that becomes part of the case property to any crime that has taken place within the jurisdiction of that particular police station. The Sunday Guardian visited the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station's Malkhana in the South East police district of the Delhi Police. It was one of the first to be digitised by the Delhi Police in 2017. As part of the e-Malkhana project, all the evidence unlike earlier times is now stored in barcoded cardboard boxes in neatly placed racks after packing and sealing the evidence.

The Malkhana in the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station is located just a few metres to the left of the entry to the police station. A small room with many shelves and storage places keeps the most important assets of the police station. It houses the crucial evidence in all cases registered in this police station-be it a murder weapon or a car seized during rash driving or drunk driving or be it furniture, jewellery or cash confiscated in dowry cases or any other case that comes under the purview of this police station.

This Malkhana was digitised during the first leg of the digitisation programme started by the then Delhi Police Commissioner, Amulya Patnaik in 2017-2018. The Malkhana is now neat, clean and has seating space for two constables and one computer operator who barcodes the boxes that store the evidence and places them in racks according to the FIR number and the year of the crime.