Wayward juveniles need counselling, says CoP

The city police were shocked when they found that five out of the 11 accused held in connection with robbery cases reported in the small hours of Sunday were juveniles — less than 19 years of age.

“It is shocking that they were in the age group of 16 to 18 years,” said Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav. The police were also surprised as the 11 accused — all well below 24 years of age — had 15 mobile phones, in addition to the four cellphones robbed from three victims, among them.

“We wonder how come the boys and young men had more than one mobile phone when many of them were not working and few of them were just in college,” Mr. Yadav said. Stating that the youngsters were increasingly falling into evil ways, the Commissioner said that these people of adolescent age required counselling.

“If they are not put in the right track at an early age, they will be embroiled in grave criminal cases such as robbery and their life will be ruined for ever. They would not get good jobs, and even would not be able to pursue education,” Mr. Yadav said.

Many young men were behind robbery of cellphones and theft of motorcycles and chain-snatching cases, he said.

Stating that he had directed the police officers to summon the parents of these boys in conflict with law, he said their parents would be given proper counselling and advised to take care of their wards.

“Not only parents of these children who have come into adverse notice of the police, parents of other children who show open disobedience can take the help of the police for providing counselling to their adolescent children through professional counsellors,” he said.

Another senior police officer said the parents were turning blind eye towards their wards carrying costly mobile phones or possessing high-speed motorcycles. “They do not question the children as to how they managed to afford such costly things without proper known income,” the officer said.

Mr. Yadav said that if parents failed to keep a vigil on their children, the wards would become a economical burden to the family as they would have to fight criminal cases in court. Besides, they would also bring disrepute to the family, he said.