More than 40 juvenile offenders escaped from an observation home at Mukherjee Nagar in North-West Delhi on Monday afternoon.
This is the third such incident there in the past few months. Authorities blamed it on a group of non-juvenile offenders who have been shifted there from Rohini jail and were bullying the younger inmates.
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. when authorities were shifting two juveniles to another home at Majnu Ka Tila.
ADVERTISEMENT
“One of them, accused of serious crimes including murder, resisted and hit his head against the wall. He started shouting that he was being beaten by a rival group of juveniles. This instigated other inmates who went on the rampage,” said a remand home official.
Amid arson and stone-pelting, more than 40 juveniles escaped from the home. Private guards and other security personnel could not stop them.
The police reached the spot but could not enter the home as under the Juvenile Justice Act, they are barred from doing so.
ADVERTISEMENT
The shelter houses nearly 180 juvenile delinquents. It is run under the supervision of a Metropolitan Magistrate.
Two or three juveniles had been brought back by evening.