The Hindu : New Delhi News : 27 juveniles escape from observation home

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Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010
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27 juveniles escape from observation home

Staff Reporter

Three guards sustain injuries trying to catch them

Children break a portion of the bathroom and escape by scaling the rear boundary wall
‘Sonu heads a gang of juveniles who are involved in over 100 cases of theft and burglary'

NEW DELHI: A juvenile delinquent who allegedly headed a gang of minors indulging in burglaries and theft and was caught this past week escaped from an observation home in Mukherjee Nagar here for the sixth time along with 26 other inmates on Sunday night.

According to the police, the incident took place around 10 p.m. when the children broke a portion of the Kingsway Camp observation home's bathroom and escaped by scaling the rear boundary wall.

Three guards who attempted to catch them sustained superficial injuries.

“Though 29 of them had tried to flee, two were apprehended on the spot,” said a police officer. Four of them later returned to the observation home.

The 17-year-old juvenile Sonu (name changed) was caught when he and two of his accomplices -- who were armed with knives -- were allegedly committing a robbery in a house at Pillanji village in South Delhi on March 9. On being cornered, Sonu had allegedly hit himself in the head with a brick to terrorise the victim.

“Sonu had escaped from the same home on February 2 along with a dozen inmates. After he was apprehended, he told us that he fled to celebrate Holi. He has done it six times in the past seven years,” said another police officer.

According to the police, Sonu heads a gang of juveniles who are involved in over 100 cases of theft and burglary. They have allegedly set afire several houses in Laxmi Bai Nagar after committing burglaries. The juvenile delinquents mostly targeted government colonies in and around Sarojini Nagar.

“Enquiries have revealed that Sonu's mother died long ago. His father is an alcoholic and survives doing petty work. We wanted to get in touch with his relatives living in neighbouring Faridabad in an attempt to rehabilitate him, but he never reveals their address or contact number,” said the police officer.

After Sonu was caught last time, the Delhi Police had urged the Juvenile Justice Board to take extra precautions considering that he had escaped several times. “Last May, about three dozen children had escaped from the Kingsway Camp home,” the officer added.

Stating that physical facilities at juvenile homes had improved in the past three years, Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, co-director of “Haq: Centre for Child Rights”, said: “Care and rehabilitation of juveniles are hugely unaddressed issues. Some of the children (who escaped) are said to have been in the system before. Had their situation been addressed at an early stage, they would not have been in the system today. Despite an improvement in physical facilities, they have no future to look forward to in the present system.”

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