Kids paint their dreams on wall of Sarojini Nagar police station

New Delhi: "When I first entered the Sarojini Nagar police station, I was really scared. But having spent a whole day here, painting this wall, with policemen around, I feel so free. I feel like the police care about me," says Mohan, a boy living in the streets of Sarojini Nagar market.

To make sure that the children living in the street do not hesitate to approach the police, the law enforcement agency took them to a tour of the police station where they expressed their future dreams through paintings.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Romil Baaniya told Millennium Post that wall painting by street children was made at the police station for creating a child-friendly environment.

Station house officer, Sarojini Nagar, Ritu Raj and other police personnel helped the children to know about the working of the police.

"We wanted to make sure that they should feel comfortable when they visit police stations and we also told them to never choose the path of crime," said a police official.

Twelve street and working children of the Sarojini Nagar Market painted their own safety wall in Sarojini Nagar police station.

The paintings depict children asserting their rights.

"The paintings were nice and now whenever any child visits the police station they will know their rights," said a police official

Kuldeep, a street child who works in the Sarojini Nagar market, said, "I loved painting this wall! I don't feel scared of the police now."

Another child Shubham said, "The police gave us a tour of the police station and told us how complaints are filed. This wall you see here, we painted it ourselves. This is our corner now."

The children were assisted by Chetna NGO and Blue Umbrella in making the paintings.

"Police are the first person on behalf of the state who comes in contact with children on streets. Hence, it is important that there should not be any gap between the two. By painting walls, a certain kind of ownership is given to local street children, said Sanjay Gupta, director, NGO Chetna.