Thirteen-year-old Mahadev Kumar was immensely amused and even surprised to receive a chocolate from a police officer when he visited Rabale MIDC Police station in Belapur, last week along with 30 other homeless children. His only interaction with the police, before this, was when he was picked up by them and sent to a children's home while living on the streets. Now he has a much better understanding of the police system and understands that it exists to protect people. All thanks to the new unique initiative by the Koshish Trust, an NGO which has been working to address homelessness and destitution. The initiative aims to introduce homeless kids to different professions in society to ignite hopes and aspirations in them to come out of their circumstances. For the first visit, a police station was finalised as these children are generally at conflict with the police system due to negative experiences in their lives such as their houses being demolished, parents taken into custody, which have led to only traumatising memories about police. The NGO believes that it could be a good start for the kids to see the police system through a larger lens. The NGO has been working to bring these children into mainstream education by enrolling them into local municipality schools. It also provided informal teaching support in the community. But this new initiative aims to provide a wholesome healthy childhood to these kids. Highlighting that a healthy childhood is more than just academic access, Mohammad Tariq, Founder-Director, the Koshish Trust, said, “The idea is to expose them to different professions to help them understand different systems actively functioning in the society, to instil in their minds that they are part of this society. These children often carry a sense of being unwanted, as they are frequently dismissed by society for living on the streets.” The effect, according to Tariq, was evident when all 30 children were more amused by getting a chocolate by the police officials, despite having a box full of refreshments supplied by the NGO on the day of the visit. At the police station, children were given a tour of various rooms and their purpose, including the gym. Senior Police Inspector of the Rabale MIDC Police Station, Sunil Waghmare noted that it was a different experience for the police too as they generally see children like then running away from them. “I hope that we have been able to reduce if not eliminate fear associated with the concept of police,” he said, adding that children were given information on day-to-day functioning such as how to submit a complaint, what is an FIR, how and when to register it. Police officials spoke to children about the importance of studying and staying in school, apart from educating them on ill-effects of tobacco and drugs etc. Nisha Jaiswal (13) was extremely influenced after the visit. She said she hopes to become a police officer now. “After having started schooling at a local municipality school I was hoping to get a regular job in some office. But after knowing about the police system I am looking forward to joining them. I even understood about the entrance procedure from the police,” she said, insisting that she now also wants to focus on her physical fitness, due to its importance to join the police. Sunny Pawar (10) was in awe with the gym available at the police station where he was allowed to pick up a few small dumbbells. For Sunny, who sells flowers on footpaths with his mother, this was a very different experience from the police. Krushna Pawar (9) shared how he was scared to go for the visit thinking he would be put in jail. Chandan Mourya (12) said, “I understood from this visit that police are there to catch criminals. If we do not get involved in wrong-doings, we should not worry.” Calling it a remarkable initiative, Waghmare said, “The organisation is helping integrate these children into mainstream society, whereas they are often left on the margins, with a sense of being unwanted. We are glad to be part of these efforts and will continue to engage with these children in the future as well.”
