Juveniles’s involvement in crimes on rise in Chandigarh: From 75 apprehended in ’21, no. doubles to 151 in 2 years

A UT police officer said, “Most juveniles were found involved in thefts, snatching, and burglaries in Chandigarh. There are also cases of rape, murder, attempt to murder, robbery, etc. There are certain cases in which juveniles, along with adults, committed crimes. In such cases, juveniles were tried in the Juvenile Justice Court (JJC) as per the JJA, while their adult accomplices faced the court trial in district courts, Sector 43, as per the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).”

A senior UT Police officer said, “We were stunned to notice boys, including one below 8 years of age, involved in the recent thefts of equipment from EV Charging Stations in Sector 42. It was the first time I came across a case involving a boy below 8 years of age. Six boys identified from CCTV footage were not even above 12 years old. There was no point in lodging them in the Juvenile Justice Home, Sector 25. So, we contacted their parents and counselled the boys. Now we are in the process of getting them admitted to a school run by the Social Welfare Department. The parents of these children are laborers. The parents of three juveniles were even ignorant about what their children had done.”

Sources said, “The current matter is the rarest case wherein the involvement of children under 11 years was reported. During the counselling of the six boys, we learned that they had formed a habit of stealing and taking away things from Furniture Market, Sector 54, where a major fire broke out in January this year. These boys found blades used for cutting steel, iron, etc. They had taken away several other things and sold them to scrap dealers who were arrested for buying EV Charging station parts from the boys.”

Meanwhile, police have shared the counselling report of the boys with the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which will decide how to handle these children. Dr. Madanjit Kaur Sahota, a former member of JJB, Chandigarh, said, “We need to address these matters with the utmost sensitivity, which is not an easy job. Indeed, the involvement of children at such an age in illegal activities is alarming. A counsellor should identify all possible reasons behind this. It could be a disturbed family, poverty, carelessness on the part of parents, etc. The JJA aims to reform these children.”

According to the JJA 2015, “If a child is under 12 years of age, no action should be taken, except for taking the child to the youth care office for reformation or counselling.”