PUNE City Records 70 Juvenile Offences In Two Weeks:

PUNE City Records 70 Juvenile Offences In Two Weeks: 19 Jan 2009, 0151 hrs IST, KALYANI SARDESAI, TNN PUNE: In the first two weeks of the new year, the city registered as many as 70 cases of juveniles in conflict with the law. "We have two more months to go before we compile the statistics for 2008-09," says M N Sonawane, superintendent at the district probation and after-care association, Shivajinagar. Other statistics provided by the Shivajinagar home also show an increase in numbers in 2007-2008, as compared to 2006-2007: 590 vs 504. The statistics relates to the period between April 1 of the preceding year and March 31 of the following year. "Parental negligence and the all-prevalent materialistic culture are among the major reasons for this increase in youngsters in conflict with the law," said Sonawane. "Many a time youngsters want to possess what their peers have." Significantly, the number of children charged with offences against women have also gone up. While in 2006-07, five youngsters were charged with rape, the corresponding figure for 2007-08 is nine. For the same period, the number of house break-ins, thefts and property related crimes have shot up from 236 to 261, while robberies (IPC 392) show a whopping increase from 9 to 36. Even as a majority of these (80 per cent) youngsters come from economically impoverished backgrounds, the other 20 per cent are from the middle class. "Most of the times, the children from the middle class considered to be more stable flounder due to the fact that their parents spend long hours at work," says Sonawane. With the juvenile justice Act 2006 making a provision for letting the child off on bail, thereby reducing the time spent in the observation home, Sonawane said the implementation of the community service clause will make a difference to the psyche of the youngster. "Of course, it all depends on what the child has done. For instance, a youngster charged with major offences like rape or murder can't be brought to the proximity with the community so soon," she says. Lawyer and social activist Asim Sarode, on the other hand, believes that the spirit of community service is all-encompassing, and will make a difference irrespective of the offence. "It's not important what he has been charged with. The nature of the service should be such that it rehabilitates the child's manner of thinking." Sarode cites the case of a young offender charged with attempted murder, who was awarded six months of community service at Sasoon hospital, under the supervision of a probation officer. "For six months, he cleaned and swabbed floors at Sasoon, and it definitely opened up his eyes to aspects like dignity of labour, respect for living beings and so on," he said.

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