Catching them young: Juvenile delinquencies on the rise in city

By Hameed Ashraf | NT

Children are considered the future nation builders and every country invests a lot in educating and training them. The children may choose to become doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers, politicians, and shoulder all kinds of responsibilities to ensure the progress of a country.

Unfortunately, the deterioration in society and family dynamics is changing the overall environment and the mindset of the children today. In the last few years, especially after the pandemic, cases of juvenile delinquency in Bengaluru (involving teens in the age group of 15-18 years) have increased significantly.

Who are Juveniles?
Juveniles are the persons who are underage (below 18 years of age) and have committed a crime. They are also known as juvenile offenders or juvenile delinquents. For example, the minimum smoking age in India is 18 and people below that are called minors or underage. Their cases are heard in juvenile court, a type of civil court with different rules than an adult criminal court. However in certain cases, older juveniles can be tried as adults in criminal court based on various criteria.

How do the minors get involved in the crime?
Experts in Bengaluru explain that the general tendency or the psychology behind the commitment of the crime or the causes of crime may be early-life experiences, dominant masculinity, upbringing, economic havoc, lack of education, etc.

A senior cop on the condition of anonymity said that one out of every 10 accused people in the city turns out to be a minor. “Juveniles are provoked and lured by the local anti-social elements, and are made to operate in all police station limits in the city,” he said. He also said that the minors are even promised cash rewards in order to obey them.

What is the impact of the media on children?
Nowadays, people prefer watching movies rather than reading books. As movies are considered to be the source of entertainment, obscene, sexual scenes and violence shown in them also contribute to the rise in juvenile crimes in the city. According to statistics, about 1,600 to 1,800 movies are released every year in India across OTT and theatres, in more than 25 languages. Around 20 million people watch movies every day, and 50% of them are affected by what they watch in movies. Studies have found that 91% of movies on various platforms contained violence, even extreme violence.

Poverty and financial crisis: Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who had also served as President of South Africa, had said: “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

While many people lost their jobs during the pandemic, minors experienced disruptions in their studies. Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police BB Ashok Kumar said, “There are cases of circumstances pushing people including juvenile with no criminal history to commit crimes like chain snatching. Such incidents will stop only when the economy improves,” he said.

Juvenile Justice System: According to NCRB (National Crimes Record Bureau), ‘educated’ juveniles commit crimes more than the ‘illiterate’ ones. This may be because of the rise in Cyber fraud cases. NCRB shows that among all the cities, Delhi tops in crimes committed by juveniles.

A “child in confrontation with the law” is a juvenile who is under the age of 18 at the time of the offence. According to Section 14 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, the maximum sentence for juvenile offenders is three years, and this sentence is applicable to both serious and minor offences. In the instance of an adult perpetrator, the highest penalty that may be imposed is seven years in jail, life in prison, or the death sentence.“Children are the valued assets they need to be tended and protected,” Lava Kumar said. “The children need to have some basic rights which can help them to have a better future,” he added.

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