Date:10/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/10/stories/2007031021670300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Juveniles `graduate' into criminal path

Most children belong to families struggling to make both ends meet, writes Marri Ramu

More than the large number of petty thefts reported in their area, the Alwal police are worried about the increasing involvement of children below the age of 18 years.

Four months ago, the security guard of local Indian Overseas Bank caught two persons when they tried to sneak inside by breaking window grills with a crowbar. One of them was 14 years old and the other two years younger to him.

The police sent the two boys to juvenile court complying with the rules laid down under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. A month later they received a jolt when the 12-year-old boy was caught stealing cash from a temple `hundi' and the other trying to break into a shop.

Such `juveniles in conflict with law' are not confined only to Alwal alone .

What is alarming about this pattern is children shifting from petty thefts to more serious crimes like burglaries. Chances are more that they would transform into hardcore offenders if the tendency is not nipped in the bud.

Most of these children belong to families struggling to make both ends meet. They drop out of school and are neglected by parents.

The Juvenile Welfare and Correctional Services Department is supposed to prevent the juveniles from `reversing to crimes' through guidance and counselling. For some inexplicable reasons, the police officials are kept off from this corrective measures. Thus, the role of police is confined to tracing the juveniles and producing them before courts.

Determining the age of children in question and taking them to court had become a burdensome work.

The police are sometimes letting them off with a warning. Strangely, this is boomeranging.