As the small but appreciative audience looked on, Rahul shook hands warmly with DCP Pravinkumar Patil before posing for a photograph with the senior cop and receiving his certificate. While this encounter with the police went well for Rahul (name changed in keeping with the Juvenile Justice Act), who was being felicitated under a rehabilitation initiative for juvenile offenders, the previous one saw him spend a couple of days in the lock-up.
Three years ago, Rahul had been apprehended and booked for assault after getting involved in a scuffle. He spent a day in the police station, and another in a remand home before being released on bail. Things have taken a turn for the better since then, thanks to the initiative by NGO Pratham and the Mumbai police.
“If we work together, we can get results,” Patil told the audience of former juvenile offenders and their families at the function on Thursday, where 12 boys including Rahul were felicitated. Speaking briefly, one of the boys said, “I fell into bad ways, but now I have corrected myself.”
The initiative took shape two years ago when the police thought to delve further into the issue of juveniles in conflict with the law to find out what the future holds for them when they emerge from the legal system, and how to prevent them from committing crimes again.
Understanding that social workers were more likely to be able to win the trust of the children than themselves, the police joined hands with NGOs to work in the city’s 12 zones and follow up with former offenders. Pratham was tasked with Zones 5 and 6, which include less affluent areas like Govandi and Mankhurd, where socio-economic indictors are below average and children far more vulnerable. “We realised that the atmosphere is often responsible for why children come into conflict with the law,” says Navnath Kamble, a project head at Pratham.
The police had a initial database of 1,024 children who had come into conflict with the law between 2009 and 2014 across 18 police stations in Zones 5 and 6. Of these, Pratham was able to contact 583; the others had moved away or were untraceable. Most had been in trouble for petty theft, robbery or getting into scuffles.
After extensive visits, counselling and follow-up, Pratham worked with 74 of them over a year. Many like Rahul have completed one- to three-month vocational courses in electrical work, repairing air conditioners and other technical skills. Of these, 45 have already got jobs.
“Rehabilitation is crucial because the children are at a formative age and circumstances often lead them to commit crimes,” says Pratham co-founder Farida Lambay. “We need to give them a second chance.”
Police said such children were usually boys aged 16 to 18, school dropouts who fell into bad company. Several had addiction issues. In fact, two of the boys felicitated on Thursday received certificates for successfully completing a de-addiction programme.
Police said such children were usually boys aged 16 to 18, school dropouts who fell into bad company
