Bhubaneswar, July 7: Juvenile crime in the capital is on the rise, as a number of incidents over the past few months indicate.
What’s more disturbing is that teenagers have moved on from petty theft and street scuffles to serious crimes, all this for a spot of thrill, some extra cash or plain vengeance.
“The rise in the juvenile crime graph is terrifying,” said city-based education consultant Nadia Moghbelpour, attributing the increase in the number of teenage felons to excessive freedom, lack of supervision by elders and the absence of a platform to express “inner cries”. These three reasons make for an explosive mix, leading adolescents to fall into bad company and come in conflict with the law.
A few days ago on June 29, 16-year-old Satish (name changed) helped his girlfriend escape from home after she failed to pass her matric exams. Taking advantage of the girl’s vulnerability, he, along with two others, allegedly slit her throat after raping her.
Barely 48 hours after the girl’s murder, three Class VIII students in Sambalpur stabbed to death an elderly woman for her gold chain while on their way to school.
Last month, a Class X student of a prominent English-medium school in the state capital, led his “best friend” into the trap of hired kidnappers, for a small portion of the ransom amount.
“Parents and educational institutions must take initiatives to have a better grab on teens by building a conducive atmosphere for them to speak out. Parents should be good listeners and not judge their children instantly, which might create inhibitions in the latter,” she added.
Sociologists also believe weakening family ties is the reason children are getting closer to the “dark passenger” within themselves. “Most parents remain busy with their own work because of which an increased sense of isolation creeps in among the children. When parents cease to be friends, peer pressure assumes significance,” said Navneeta Rath, sociology professor at Utkal University.
The crime scene is also witnessing a change in the profile of these young “criminals”. In contrast to popular perception, many children from affluent families are breaking the law. Last August, a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Bhubaneswar was arrested on charges of duping people and stealing their two-wheelers. The girl, a Class X student of a reputed school, is the daughter of a senior executive of a well-known corporate house.
Even engineering students away from home are being lured into the world of crime to make easy money.
The police are worried over children “losing out on their innocence prematurely”. A senior police officer said though the exact figures were not available with him, juvenile crimes were definitely on the rise. “The easy accessibility to weapons has made things worse,” said the officer.
Saswati Mohapatra, a lawyer at Orissa High Court said Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000 had not been effective and the correctional homes/ juvenile centres were not working as they should.
“Teenage crimes are mostly acts of impulse and most of them don’t understand the repercussions. But proper counselling can bring about a behavioural change in them. But our correctional homes do not have counsellors or psychiatrists. The police often fudge the age of minors and put them behind bars with hardened criminals, which makes them even more bitter. The act needs to be modified so that the young offenders get a second chance at life,” Mohapatra said.
