Juvenile crime is emerging as a serious problem in India

More counselling centres need to be opened up, especially in schools, and it is time parents monitor their children's behaviour more closely

- RASHME SEHGAL

Violent crimes by juveniles are on the rise. Delhi alone reports three to four heinous murders committed by juveniles every month. Some of these crimes are extremely troubling. On August 30, four youngsters were apprehended in the well-heeled colony of Malviya Nagar for having stabbed to death another youth and his cousin, who sustained serious injuries. A case of rivalry attenuated by provocative social media posts against each other accelerated a sense of enmity that ended in murder.

Last year, a teenager was booked in the capital for having stabbed another youth 50 times and then dancing over his dead body. This crime was recorded in yet another social media post. A month ago, the city witnessed three back-to-back crimes committed by teenagers. Five minors got drunk and committed two murders and a series of robberies in east Delhi. Twenty hours later, three youths stabbed a man to death only because he asked them for directions, and a few days later, a man was critically wounded by two youngsters in South Delhi. Another shocker was when three teenagers walked into a nursing home in New Delhi, some months ago, and shot dead a 55-year-old medical practitioner over a petty dispute regarding a medical bill.