City youths getting caught in vortex of crime

Hameed Ashraf | NT
Bengaluru

Over the last few years, Bengaluru has seen an alarming increase in the levels of youth crime. With the recent crime reports, it seems the teenagers have diversified into contemporary violent and serious crimes.

The latest instance was witnessed near Govindaraj Nagar where the patrolling cops stopped three youths on a scooter. When they searched them, the police recovered a knife and a dagger. The police later said that they will soon ascertain the source from where the youths had procured those weapons.

On Wednesday, Basaveshwara Nagar police registered a case against unidentified youths allegedly involved in violence for a petty issue. The police, who had retrieved the CCTV footage of the incident, explained that a few youths, near a local bar, attempted to attack a drunk person after he refused to return the lighter he had borrowed to light his cigarette. However, the people near-by disbursed the gang before any untoward incident.

Last week, Byatarayanapura police arrested two people who had threatened a worker at a fuel pump station and fled without paying for the fuel.
Though according to the Bengaluru police, the overall data of crime in the city shows a dip compared to pre-Covid times, cases including thefts, robbery, chain snatching, are on the rise apart from gang rivalry incidents.

New entrants
According to Bengaluru police, many fresh offenders with no history of crime are getting involved in crimes making it tough to crack. “We have seen this trend in drug peddling as well,” a police official added.

Senior officials from the Karnataka police department said that there are several obvious reasons for this rise, which transcends socio-economic boundaries. Besides poverty, ignorance, breakdown of traditional values, lack of education and the tendency to defy norms, one major factor contributing to teenage crime is something very crucial.

“Behind every adult crime and serious juvenile crime, there is invariably a track record of petty crime that has gone unchecked,” a top cop in Bengaluru said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru West, Sanjeev M Patil said that, “It all depends on peer pressure and the company one keeps. I have interacted with a lot of youths who have committed offences for the first time to understand their mindset and engage them in positive activities.

The neighbourhood plays a major role. We are conducting meetings with youth informants who give us heads up on those who are in bad company and are likely to veer into wrong paths — based on which we speak to them. We even contact their parents to make sure they are away from the antisocial elements,” he said.

Also the involvements of the teenagers in recent incidents of drug abuse, road rage, moral policing, communal issues and riots across the state are a matter of concern. However, the senior police officials believe that most of the misled youths who have transgressed can be brought back to the mainstream by a systematic and compassionate enforcement of the law.