Juvenile participation in Delhi crime on rise: Police data

The appeal of establishing one’s own “following”, a way to make a quick buck and “inspiration” from reel and real-life gangsters have led to a splurge in the number of heinous crimes being committed by minors over the recent past, police officers aware of the matter said. IPS officer Joy N Tirkey, a former deputy commissioner of police, who studied minors in northeast Delhi, said, “From interrogation of these minors so far, we found that they come from broken families with no one looking at their conduct due to which they fall into bad company and start committing crime for easy money or to feel powerful.” The mother of a 17-year-old resident, who grew up seeing his father assault and abuse his wife, in Seelampur recalled how the boy was “innocent and didn’t ever even talk back to anyone” when he was a kid. Senior police officers of the Crime Branch said that minors are no more limited to petty crimes and are now “regulars” in committing major ones, including premeditated shootings. Investigation revealed that two of the minors, both aged 16 years, in June last year allegedly slit the throat of a cab driver in northeast Delhi in a failed robbery bid, police officers said. Gang wars Apart from individual motives and petty crimes, the rise in juvenile crime has reached a point where infamous gangs are now “actively” recruiting minors, say police.