New delhi: Over 93 per cent or more than 12,000 of all juveniles apprehended in Delhi in the last three years were first-time offenders, data recently compiled by the Delhi Police for a crime overview meeting showed, according to which a total of over 13,000 children were apprehended in this time period.
At the recent crime review meeting between the top brass of the force, crimes by juveniles were discussed at length and the data was presented.
Of the total number of juveniles apprehended in the last three years, just over 820 were found to be involved in multiple criminal activities. In one of the districts, 1,564 first-time offending juveniles were apprehended. Another district apprehended 136 juveniles who were found to be repeat offenders.
"Mostly we have found that juveniles, who are either first-timers or involved in multiple crimes, have committed street crimes," an official said. As per the official, criminals project a rosy picture of a luxurious life in front of these children to lure them into crime.
Yashwant Jain from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said that families should provide a positive environment to the child if they have had criminal antecedents. "Parents should help their kids in forgetting their past and also help them to mix in society. Their brains must be utilised for constructive work for which there are various government vocational schemes," he said.
On the other hand, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) had undertaken an exercise of identifying, examining, and suggesting measures for addressing procedural gaps in implementing various provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 in Delhi.
The child rights body found that there was no standard procedure, criteria for declaring a person as fit by CWC and JJB, absence of procedural guidelines on how inspection of institutions should be conducted by the Inspection Committees under the JJ Act, 2015.
Meenu Mehta, chairperson of CWC at Nirmal Chhaya complex said there are various reasons behind children choosing a life of crime.
"There are underprivileged children, they regularly witness family problems like alcoholism, domestic abuse due to which they want to move and this is the time when they become vulnerable," she said. These kids do not know that they are being used by criminals.
"Country witnessed lockdown and due to which children started using mobile phones for their study but sometimes they get involved in cybercrime knowingly or unknowingly," the official said. She said that they provide regular counselling to children, family members so that children can be helped.