CHAPTER - Three

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN INDIA AND KARNATAKA

3.1 Introduction

In the present chapter an attempt is made to present the details about the
emerging trends and patterns of juvenile delinquency in India as well as in Karnataka, the
study area of present enquiry. As we all have understood, delinquency trend in India, like
in global scenario as pointed out in earlier context, has been changing now-a-days. The
passing of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000 is a land
mark in the criminal Justice administration in India. Earlier, if a boy of below 16 years or
girl of below 18 years commits an offence, he or she was called a juvenile delinquent.
But after commencement of J.J.Act of 2000 a boy of below 18 years or a girl of below
18 years commit an offence they shall be considered as juvenile in conflict with law, that
is juvenile offender . Not only the conceptual framework for the word "delinquent" has
changed, but also the size, pattern and the rate of the delinquency has also been changing.
The number of the juvenile in conflict with law in India, that is juvenile delinquency as
traditionally called, is decreasing in rural areas and in district places. The delinquency
rate is also clearly finding downward swing in recent years. But at the capital places like
Bangalore and other mega cities in India it is little increasing. But in Karnataka
Delinquency rate is decreasing a bit. Not only in Karnataka in India but in larger context
of the world too is delinquency rate decreasing due to various factors.

The Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 prescribes minimum age at 7 years and maximum age at
18 years for delinquents of both sexes which in a way help in avoiding some confusion
what had prevailed in identifying a child delinquents saws sex (gender). By definition of
the Act all those who are under 18 when committed a crime are called juvenile delinquent
or child criminal, and the Act is child crime, being treated specially and separately as per
the provision of JJ Act of 2000.

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3.2 Juvenile Delinquency: A Global Phenomenon
Juvenile Delinquency has become a cause of social concern all over the world. It is
mentioned in the earlier sections that delinquency an universal phenomenon, in the sense
that it is found in all human groups. Perhaps there is no society with having a pause as far
as misbehavior or crime by individuals, more so among the younger ones that is children.
The nature of human behavior is such that violation of standards of behavior or actions
are sometimes hardly kept intact, in tune with that of norms, regulations, code of conduct,
values etc. of the society. The problem of human misbehavior has been observed and felt
throughout human world and at all levels of strata. However, the causation of
delinquency, nature and extent of juvenile delinquency, genesis of delinquency, forms of
delinquency and patterns of delinquency vary from time to time, place to place and well
with in a community, society, region and national society etc. The dynamics of juvenile
delinquency is very interesting to be considered for enquiry to understand analytically
and to develop accounts about the changing pattern of behavior as well as misbehavior
among people, more specifically among children which is a new development which has
come about with the changing social, economic, political and cultural arrangements in
human groups due to rapid industrialization and urbanization all most over the world.

There are considerable variations in the socio- cultural, economic and

psychological bases of causation of juvenile delinquency across the societies in the
world. The economic growth trends as well as levels and the changing pattern of human
behavior are quite observable. With the changing economic structure, as viewed in
Marxian perspective, there would be change in the socio-cultural arrangements leading to
inconsistent behavioral pattern among people during such transitional times. Changes in
basic constitutional arrangements like in the family, are quite expected due to economic
upheavals. Industrial way of life, that is industrialism, crept into the 20th century society
in Europe and Northern America. The changes in their economy lead to changes in every
way those societies had been obtained earlier. Though industrialism was not a sudden
development, it emerged as a resultant effect of mechanized production system due to
scientific and technological innovations that were successfully followed in the western

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societies. The overall changes in those societies could be seen in the rapid transitional
growth of communities into the modern typical industrial- urban ones.

To suit the ongoing changes, the regulative institutions like law, police, judicial
administration also changed drastically. The laws governing deviant behavior among
children as well as adults have also undergone a drastic change. The handling of
misbehaving individuals has got developed into a highly civilized one and lot of changes
to the existing laws have also been affected in this background. Infact the new
conceptualization of "Juvenile in conflict with law" enacted recently in Indian legal
system in place of the old concept of "juvenile delinquent" has been one such illustration
for the sophistication of labeling misbehaving children which has been borrowed from
the west. Misbehavior among Children has changed in its content, tenor, orientation,
approach, method as well as in its handling too. A change in the family life has its direct
impact on misbehavior among children. Lack of love and carelessness, growing
phenomena of individualism at all levels of social life, loose neighborhood relations,
association of bad guys increasing incidence of intolerance among children, impact of
media like cinema, television etc., and access to arms and ammunitions have all in some
permutation combination influence children in their behavioral aspects. What we have
learnt from media these days is that the children getting in to easy way of life and for the
purpose of which they force themselves to commit economic offences like shop lifting,
pick pocketing, stealing goods from wherever and however possible. There is also
increasing scale of sex offences among children which is a dangerous development in
modern society. The girls getting into these kind of offences are becoming conspicuous
Drug and alcohol have demoralized the children and adults who have been into them. In
fact they are often starters in the long criminal career of children and adults. Emotional
disturbance has often been manifested in their criminal tendencies. The psychological
basis of crime has been very well documented in the context of different socio-cultural
situations. Juvenile delinquency is a common problem every where. How societies
conceptualize it is the thing which matters most for the fact that delinquent behavior is a
defined behavior. Only when a child is defined delinquent he is delinquent, otherwise not.

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However, each society has its own standards of measurement of behavior. India is no
exception to that.

3.3 Causes of Juvenile Delinquency in India

As we have already learnt there is no single cause or simple explanation
provided for the development of delinquent behavior. According to Healy and Bronner ,
the causes of juvenile delinquency are quite wide ranging covering from the (1) bad
company, (2) adolescent instability and impulses, (3) early sex experience,(4) mental
conflicts, (5) extreme social suggestibility, (6) love of adventure, (7) motion picture, (8)
school dissatisfaction, (9) poor recreation, (10) street life, (11) vocational dissatisfaction,
(12) sudden impulse: and (13) physical condition of all sorts.

The factors of causation of juvenile delinquency could be broadly classified under two
major head as (a) Social factors, and (b) Personal factors. The social factors of causation
of juvenile delinquency are broken homes, poverty, delinquency area companions and
gangs , beggary ,school learning dissatisfaction , films and phornographic literature, deep
seated inner desires etc . The personal or individual factors of causation of delinquency
among children are mental deficiency, emotional problems etc. The details are provided
in following paragraphs.

Broken Homes: British and American investigations reveal that nearly 50% of the
delinquents come from broken homes. In one of the studies conducted by Uday Shankar
in India only 13.3% of the 140 delinquents that he studied came from broken homes- (1
34). This shows the cultural differences between Indian and the Western countries. Still it
can be said that broken homes and families, lack of parental affection and security,
absence of a loving mother in the childhood or an affectionate mother substitute, lack of
family ties, parental irresponsibility and a steep rate in divorce, desertion and separation
are all contributory factors to delinquency.

The home may be broken up by death of one or both of the parents or by prolonged
illness or insanity, desertion or divorce. Interaction in home is a very important means for
socializing the child. The mother plays vital role in this regard. If she divorces her
husband or deserts him or dies, the growth of the child will be affected. Such a child loses

4
not only mother's love but also parental control and becomes an easy victim to the
outside anti-societal influence. It cannot, however, be said that broken home invariably
leads to delinquent behavior on the part of children.

Poverty: A very large proportion of delinquent children come from poor homes. It
is generally, although not accepted by professional students of juvenile delinquency, the
vast majority of delinquents come from the lower class. They commit their offences as
member of gangs. Uday Shankar's study has revealed that as many as 83% of the
children come from poor families still it cannot be generalized that the children of the
poor homes invariably become delinquents.

Poverty compels sometimes both of the parents to be outside the home for a very
long period to earn their daily bread. The children will be uncared for. Such children may
consciously or unconsciously join hands with gangsters and become delinquents. This
mostly happens in slum areas and areas in which mostly working class people live.

Delinquency Areas: It is said that some areas are highly vulnerable to delinquent
trends. Several studies have showed that there are certain underclass areas in
metropolitan cities from where the majority of delinquent children come. The delinquents
mostly come from the areas of poor housing, overcrowding and the areas in which
cinema houses, hotels, night clubs, liquor shops are found in a large number. It is true that
when a family is living in the central business districts or its adjacent locales in towns a
cities the chance is greater for the children of such families to pick up delinquent
behavior. It is to be noted here that not all the children living in the so called defined
delinquent areas are delinquents.

Companions and Gangs: As the child grows older he or she goes into the
neighborhood and becomes a member of the playgroup or peer group. If by chance he
joins the group or the gang that fosters delinquent attitudes he is also likely to become a
delinquent. In fact much delinquency spring up from the prevalent attitudes in the groups
within which the youth has immediate contacts. That is why it is maintained that
"delinquency is a product of community forces".

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 In cities, particularly in slum areas, very peculiar social groups called 'gangs' are
found. Generally the gangster is a playgroup. In the absence of playground facilities, the
children will start playing in street and finally organize themselves into gangs. The gang
has all the qualities of an in group such as loyalty, co-operation, social solidarity and
unity. These gangs are found to be associated with crime in all its aspects like
delinquency, rioting, corrupt politics, and so on. Children coming from poor families and
broken families easily become the victims of gangs.

Due to bad companionship also offences are committed by the adolescents. Studies
have shown that delinquent acts are done in company. Several surveys have showed that
there were hundreds and thousands of boys involved in crime. It is largely found that in
most such surveys the crime committed was only in group of boys\girls of two or more.
In Uday Shankar's study in India about 23% of persons committed delinquent acts due to
bad company. It cannot, however, be presumed that more companionship by itself causes
delinquency.

Beggary: Beggary is often the cause of juvenile delinquency. Child beggars mostly
come from either very poor families or broken homes. These children are betrayed of the
needed love and affection of the parents. They crave for the satisfaction of their inner
impulses, desires and ambitions. They choose to become beggars for the same. As
beggars they get annoyed to see others enjoying life. Some of them may even become
rebels. They realize that only through deviant practices, they can satisfy their desires and
meet their needs. They thus become delinquents.

School Dissatisfaction. Some get dissatisfied with school life. Parental irresponsibility,
unmanageable students- teacher ratio, lack of entertainment and sports facilities in
schools, indifference of the teachers may all contribute to this. Such dissatisfied students
become regular absentees in schools and start wandering in streets. They may even form
gangs of their own and become gamblers, eve-teasers, pick-pocketers, drunkards,
smokers and drug addicts.

Films and Pornographic Literature has also added to the magnitude of delinquency.
Cinema, television and obscene literature may often provoke sexual and other impulses in

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adolescents. Hence they may start their 'adventure' in satisfying them and in the process
of which they commit crimes.

Deep-seated inner desires coupled with outside pressures, compulsions and temptations
also contribute to juvenile delinquency. For example, on hearing the interesting narration
of the illicit sex experience or such other criminal experience from one's gang mate, one
may tempted to follow the same.

There are also personal factors such as mental deficiency and emotional
disturbances which may also contribute to juvenile delinquency. It has been observed that
good number of delinquents are mentally deficient have revealed that there is larger
proportions of mentally defective in the juvenile delinquent group than among the normal
children. The relationship between intelligence and delinquent behavior has been studied
carefully. The average intelligence in a normal group of children is 100 (Intelligence
Quotient).Some studies from Europe have shown that the average I.Q. of delinquent
children is 85 while in an Indian study Uday Shankar found that it was 83. These and
many other studies have revealed that the average intelligence of the juvenile delinquents
is certainly lower than the average intelligence of the normal group of children of the
same age. Such children are often used by the more intelligent children of the gang or the
adults for their criminal purpose.

Mental troubles and emotional maladjustments are strong factors in delinquency

.Emotional problems of inferiority, jealous and being thwarted are very common among
the delinquent children. Healy and Bronner in the study of 143 delinquents found that
92% of the delinquent studied revealed emotional disturbance. It is reported that in
America about two- thirds of juvenile delinquents suffer from emotional, personality and
mental deviations. Thus from the psychological point of view "Delinquency is a rebellion
and an expression of aggression which is aimed at destroying breaking down or changing
the environment". This rebellion is mostly against the social conditions which deny the
individual his basic rights and the satisfaction of his fundamental needs. Thus,
delinquents are not born so, but they become so due to social circumstances and personal
deficiencies. They are mostly maladjusted person.

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 According to psychoanalytic view, the delinquent is an individual who is
governed by the "pleasure principle". He wants to get immediate pleasure and immediate
satisfaction for his needs. So he becomes a victim to his own impulses. He is neither able
to control his impulses nor able to imagine to think the consequence of his action. It is
also said that delinquent breakdown is an escape from emotional situation for some
particular individuals with peculiar individual and family background. Some emotionally
maladjusted children become delinquents to get the attention of their parents or as a
protest against their treatment.

Thus it may be said that juvenile delinquency is the result of both social or
environmental and personal or individual factors of causation of it.

T he above mentioned factors of causation of delinquency have become common

aspects in crime committed by the children in India. To treat such individuals committing
delinquency, there are different methods adopted while the important ones are from
preventive purpose. The other is rehabilitative nature. The details of these methods are
discussed in brief in this chapter.

3.4 Remedies for Juvenile Delinquency

The problem of juvenile delinquency is one that has drawn the attention of Indian
society also. It is known that the delinquent child today may turn out to be a chronic
criminal tomorrow. Discussions, debates and studies have been made at the national as
well as international levels by scholars to seek out effective remedy for this problem.
Two methods have been suggested to deal with this problem: (A) preventive method, and
(B) rehabilitative or curative method. In the former, factors leading to delinquency,
delinquent children are to be helped to become normal citizens.

In order to prevent juvenile delinquency from its occurrence the following

measures have been suggested:

V Creating and inspiring a team of work of private and public agencies

devoted to preventive work.

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 V Giving proper training to the members and staff of all organizations
concerned with delinquency control.
V Establishing child guidance clinics to give appropriate treatment to the
disturbed and mal-adjusted children.
V Educating of the family so as to help the parents to realize the importance
of giving proper attention to the needs of their young children.
V Establishing wholesome recreational agencies to prevent young children
from becoming the victims of illicit or unwholesome recreation.
V Giving proper assistance to under-privileged children to build in them
good character and law-abiding attitude.
V Adopting various means of propaganda such as radio, movies, television,
newspapers, magazines, etc., to realize the importance of law abidingness
and how it is always appreciated and rewarded.
V Improving the social environment -slum areas, busy market places,
gambling centers, etc., to prevent children to get polluted.
V Spotting potential delinquents by predictive tests in schools and giving
appropriated treatment to such children.
V The problem of beggary and poverty are to be removed or controlled and
the general economic standards of the people must be increased to prevent
children from becoming- delinquent due to economic exigencies.

T he children who become criminal for whatever reason better known and
whatever conditions under which they committed crime need to be rehabilitated.
Punishment is no measure and legally too it is not allowed. A suitable way (s) in which
they could be rehabilitated is thought of in this connection.

The main purpose of the method of rehabilitation is neither to punish nor to take
upon the delinquent. The intention behind this method is to help the delinquent children
to get proper guidance and training so that they become normal children and never repeat
delinquent acts. The measures taken for the prevention and treatment of juvenile
delinquency in India after are briefly examined here:

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 There are several legal measures that have been thought of and brought to practice
in India. Various legislations have been made in India from time to time to deal with
juvenile delinquency. Some of them are mentioned here. They are as presented in the
following paragraphs.

(a) Apprentices Act of 1850: This Act has been the earliest step in India taken in
the direction of preventing delinquency. The Act provides for the binding of children,
both boys and girls, between the ages of 10 to 18 as apprentices. Orphans and poor
children could take the benefit of this Act. Employers could take such children as
apprentices with the intention of training them in some trade, craft or employment by
which they gain a livelihood later. The father or guardian may bind a child above 10 and
under 18 up to 21 years of age for a period not exceeding 7 years. A female child may be
so bound until her marriage. The Act also dealt with children who committed petty
offences.

(b) Reformatory Schools Act of 1897: This Act be considered a landmark in the
history of treatment of delinquency in India. This Act is in force in almost all the states of
India. Under this Act, courts were empowered to send for detention youthful male
offenders to Reformatory school for a period of not more than three years. It could be
extended to seven years depending each of delinquent case. No person may be detained
th
in it after he attains the 18 year of age. In conformity with this Act the state
Governments may establish and maintain Reformatory schools. Every school to must
provide sanitary arrangements, water supply, food, clothing, bedding, industrial training
and medical aid to the inmates. These Reformatory Schools are reported to have done
useful work.

(c) Provision in the Criminal Procedure Code: Under Section 399 of the
Indian Criminal Procedure Code (ICPC) convicted young offender below the age of 15
could be sent to Reformatory Schools established by the State Government. Section 562
of the C.P.C. also permitted discharge of certain convicted offenders on probation. It also
permitted their release with advice. Under Section 82 of the Indian Penal Code children

10
under seven cannot be held responsible for their criminal acts. Section 83 of the Code
relaxes this age up to 12 under some conditions.

(d) Children Acts: During colonial rule in India, various provinces of India took
interest in making some comprehensive laws in 1920 and afterwards to deal with
delinquent children. Of these, children Acts enacted by Madras in 1920 and followed by
other States, are more important. The main provisions of children Act are as follows:

(1) No child under 14 years of age can be imprisoned under any circumstances
and no young person between 14-16 years of age can be imprisoned unless he is certified
to be an unruly person;

(2) Except in the case of grave offences any person arrested on a charge and is
below 16, is required to be released or bailed. In any case such person could not be kept
in jails;

(3) The child or youthful offender cannot be sentenced to death or imprisonment

except under extra- ordinary conditions. Persons below 12 are to be sent to Junior
Certified Schools and 12 to 16 Senior Certified Schools; and

(4) The court may discharge the person after due admonition, it may hand him
over to his parents or guardians after taking a bond from them that they would be
responsible for his good behavior for 12 months.

(5) Juvenile Smoking Acts: Some Acts to deal with the specific pattern of
antisocial behavior among children have also been passed. Of these the juvenile Smoking
Acts are in force in most of the states. This Act prohibits the sale of tobacco by children
of below 16 years of age. Children of below 16 years age are no supposed to smoke in
public places according to this Act (But these Acts were never enforced in any of the
States)

(6) Suppression of Immoral Traffic Acts (SITA). These Acts are passed in order
to protect young girls and to suppress prostitution. The Acts prohibit certain practices
connected with prostitution such as soliciting in public places using residential premises

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for running brothels, forcibly detaining young women in brothels, etc. provisions are also
made to protect girls from brothels or from moral danger.

(7) Probation of Offenders Act. Under these Acts Juvenile Courts can place the
youthful offenders under the supervision of probation officers.

(8) Borstal Schools Acts for Adolescents: These acts were passed to give a special
treatment for adolescent offenders, that is, offenders between 15 and 21 year of age. A
Borstal School is a corrective institution and is one in which the offenders are subject to
disciplinary and moral influences. These influences would help their reform.

3.5 Institutions to Rehabilitate Juvenile Delinquents

Preventive measure alone is not enough. Rehabilitative or reformative measures

are also needed to solve juvenile delinquency. Some of the institutions aimed at
rehabilitating the juvenile delinquents are there in India which may be briefly examined
here.

Juvenile Courts: Juvenile Courts are established in order to treat separately juvenile
delinquents form other adult criminals. Juvenile Courts have their own building, judicial
bench and other arrangements. Juvenile delinquents cannot be tried in ordinary courts.
Whenever the juvenile courts are not there they could however be tried in other courts but
on a separate day and at a fixed time so as to keep them separately from other adult
criminals. Juvenile offenders cannot be chained and they cannot be produced to the courts
by the police in their uniform. No advocates are needed to plead for them. The main
intention behind this special treatment is to create positive feelings in the minds of
juveniles.

Remand Homes (Observation Homes): When a child is arrested under the Act, he is
produced before the magistrate within 24 hours and kept in Remand Home till the case is
investigated. The child is kept in Remand Home until the final disposal of the case.
Sometimes person convicted are sent to Remand Homes for a few days and released later.
These homes are mostly managed by private Welfare agencies with the governmental
assistance.

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Certified Schools: Certified Schools are established mainly to give some general
education and technical training to the children. Here the children are sent for long-term
treatment. They are run by voluntary bodies or local authorities with the financial
assistance of the government and the public. There are two types of schools: (i) junior
Schools for boys under 12, and (ii) Senior Schools for boys under 16. The children are
confined here about 2 to 3 years. They school authorities can also make early discharge.
After their release they are put under the charge of a Welfare or probation officer who
watches their activities.

Auxiliary Homes: These Auxiliary Homes are attached to Certified Schools just like
remand homes. Here the convicted delinquents are kept for some time and studied by a
social worker. Later on they are sent to certified schools depending upon and attitude of
the young offender.

Foster Homes. Foster Homes are mostly run by the voluntary agencies and the
government gives grants to. They are specially created for delinquent children under 19
who cannot be sent to approved or certified schools.

Reformatory Schools:

In states where are no Children Acts, Reformatory Schools are established. They
are meant for the education and vocational training of delinquent children. The young
convicted offenders below 15 years are detained here for 3 to 7 years. The delinquents are
removed from bad social environments through these schools.

Borstal Institutions: Under Borstal system special treatment is provided for adolescent
offenders between the ages of 15 to 21 years. Borstal institutions are of two types :(i)
open type and (ii) closed type. Open institution is a camp in the open country with no
surrounding wall. Closed institution is a converted prison building in which maximum
security is given to inmates. Though it is called 'closed' institution most of its activities
meant for children are carried on outside the building.

Young offenders are very often sent to Borstal institution for rehabilitation rather
than kept under imprisonment. The term of Borstal is 2 to 3 years and in any case it

13
should not exceed 5 years. If the offenders are found to be unruly and incorrigible they
are sent to jails. Separate arrangement is there to give training to boys and girls. The
training, physical exercises and education that are given here are very tough so as to
prevent the inmates from committing offences again.

Fit Person Institutions and uncared children institutions: These are the two non
government institutions managed by private bodies and philanthropists. These institutions
give refuge and protection to the destitute, neglected children, children in the pre-
delinquent stage, and to the delinquent children. Such children and their activities are
supervised by the appointed officers.

In the backdrop of this understanding of the general causative factors of juvenile

delinquency legal frameworks and methods and approaches for treatment of young
offenders in India, we shall move on to know and understand the trends and patterns of
juvenile delinquency in India as well as in Karnataka in the following sections .

3.6 Trends of juvenile delinquency in India

India has been a very traditional society where informal means of control have
worked very well in regulating behavior of people of all ages, caste, sex and other
typological categories. The customs, traditions, mores, values, norms developed and
adhered to locally as well as universally in Indian society by people across groups and
places have all had helped maintain low crime and delinquency incidence for generation
and centuries. Religion played a vital role as an agent of social control. There were no
formal rules and regulations, police, court until the advent of British Rule in India.
However, the kind of informal surveillance system that was developed and sustained
served society in a better way for generations and centuries. The community level
juridical system contributed its might in regulating human conduct locally and helped
maintain order. Industrialization, urbanization, modernization, growth of population,
dwindling natural resources, have all lead to a kind of new situation where some sections
started getting deprived of basic facilities to settle down and experience better living
arrangements. This leads to a kind of expression on their part by deviating the expected

14
informal standards of behavior has got developed in the recent past. The inter-cultural,
social, economic, religious and political variation in different areas had never helped in
evolving uniform codes of conduct for people to observe in different social situations. As
such there were not clear standards of behavior developed by state or society and while
they are kept violated by one or the other sections for one or the other reasons.

Juvenile delinquency, like crime, in socially defined, culturally interpreted,

economically measured and politically punished. This in the sense that different
dimensions of it needs to be taken into account while it being empirically investigated.
We are trying to consider at the national level as to what has happened and happening
now as far as human conduct is concerned. Particularly with the persons up to the age of
18 years who are in legal as well as social considerations are children or juveniles. As
children they are supposed to be under strict control of parents , relatives , neighborhood,
community, etc. but where situations encourages and warrants they turned to be violating
standards of behavior as fixed by the community\ society leading to be called juvenile
delinquents within the ambit of legal frameworks . In the present analysis only those
children who are defined delinquents in the eyes of legal standards are taken into account.
Possibly there could be many whose delinquent behavior may not have been brought
under the legal provisions and recorded by the authority or agencies of the state either
intentionally or unintentionally. Possibly there could be lot of violations of standards of
behavior carried out by children in villages and other unnoticeable areas which goes
without being recorded. For this reason, the facts and figures that are made available
through the records of the state agencies are limited but in a way provide a basis for our
understanding the nature, extent and variations in the context of changing residential and
regional and sub regional situations. In the present inquiry, an attempt is made to take in
to considerations of the statistical details recorded by the state agencies regarding the
crime incidences conducted by children which serve a basis for understanding the trends
and patterns of delinquent behavior in our society.

In the beginning, we shall take into consideration of the statistical details

regarding the various types of crimes committed by the children in different state areas in

15
 st
India in the beginning of 21 century. i.e. the year 2001 -2002. The details have been
culled out from the statistical abstracts 2002 of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation Government of India. The details for various types of delinquent acts of
children as recorded by the agencies of the state, are given in the following table 4.1

16
 Table 3.1 The State and Union Territory wise Distribution of Juvenile Delinquency in India, 2002

Culpable
Kidnapp Total
homi Criminal Coun Other
State/Uts/ ing and Da- Robb- Burg- Cheat- cogniz-
Murder cide not Rape Theft Riots breach ter IPC
City abduc coity ery lary ing able
amounting of trust feiting crimes
tion crimes
to murder
State 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Andhra Pradesh 12 1 22 3 - 2 118 280 18 - 1 - 249 706
Arunachal Pradesh - 1 1 2 - 3 12 23 4 - - - 38 84
Assam 4 - 3 - 1 3 38 90 16 - 1 - 51 207
Bihar 11 1 8 8 6 5 69 213 92 14 6 - 222 655
Goa - - - - - - 11 6 2 - - - 3 22
Gujarat 16 - 1 22 4 5 94 220 42 2 2 - 450 858
Haryana 9 1 7 5 1 2 33 47 29 4 4 - 201 343
Himchal Pradesh 1 - 2 - - - 7 2 8 - - - 16 36
Jammu & Kashmir - - - - - - - - - - - -
Karnataka 14 - - - - 1 43 84 20 - 2 - 78 242
Kerala 2 - 1 - - - 7 19 4 - - - 8 41
Madhya Pradesh 87 16 86 19 9 32 311 382 80 1 1 11 - 1647 2681
Maharashtra 71 1 23 11 8 17 225 476 92 2 | 6 2 707 1641
Manipur - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -
Meghalaya - 1 1 7 12 - - - - - 21
Mizoram 1 - 2 - - - 9 9 - - - - 10 31
Nagaland 1 - - - - - 1 3 - - - - 3 8
Orissa 4 1 6 1 - 2 29 89 1 1 - - 34 168
Punjab 1 - - 1 - - 3 1 - - - - 10 16
Rajasthan 14 1 16 4 - 1 84 89 113 - 1 - 357 680
Sikkim - - - - - - 2 4 - - - - 3 9
Tamil Nadu 5 - 1 - 3 - 57 179 4 - 1 - 45 295
Tripura - - - - - - 2 3 - - - 3 8
Uttar Pradesh 5 3 9 2 - - 9 14 - - - - 30 72
West Bengal - - - - - - 1 18 - - - - 68 87

Andaman & Nicobar

1 - - - 1 - - - - 4 6
Islands
Chandigarh - - - - - - 6 16 1 - - - 13 36
Dadra and Nagar
- - - - - - - - - - -
Haveli
Daman & Diu - - - - - - - - 1 - - - 1 2
Delhi 8 - 9 5 1 6 62 102 1 - 2 1 102 299
Lakshadweep - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pondicherry - - - - - - 3 7 1 - - - 2 13
Total 266 27 195 83 33 79 1238 2381 531 24 | 37 03 4355 9267

Source: compiled from the statistics released by: selected socio-economic statistics, central statistical
organization, Ministry of statistics and programme implementation, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 2006.

17
From the above table 3.1 we may observe that the number of cases of delinquency for
different objectionable acts of behavior among children in different state areas vary
considerably and also the type of delinquents being pronounced in predominant or subtle
numbers in different areas in India. This is only to speak of variations which are quite
obvious in the varying context of cultural, social, economic and political situations in
India and what influences do they have on child behavior. Of the 14 crimes recorded for
child misconduct burglary and thefts appear common all over and also in more numbers
indicating the economic purpose of criminal intent. That is poverty or need for
subsistence to be obtained from illegal means (acts) seem prime consideration in the
causation of this type of economic offences by children. These criminal conducts are
recorded under the provisions of the Indian penal code (IPC) and the Local and Special
Laws (LSL). Again when we look through the details in the table 4.1, it may be found
that it is in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat from
where more number of Juveniles indentified for violating behavioral standards by
conducting burglary and thefts. Child riots are reported in more numbers from Rajasthan,
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

The details in the table 3.1 reveal the variations in term of number of
juvenile delinquency reported. Suppose we take total number of cognizable crimes by
children in to account and see as to from which states such crimes or reported in more
numbers, it is Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan
have recorded more while Sikkim, Nagaland, Tripura, Punjab, Goa, and Himachal
Pradesh having recorded less numbers. The state like Uttar Pradesh West Bengal,
reporting less only to imply that there could be some variations in the provisions followed
for booking cases against such children for their miss conduct. Among the centrally
administered territories, Delhi had recorded the highest numbers while Daman Diu and
Andaman and Nicobar areas had recorded less. In a way the details provide the juvenile
Delinquency scenario in India immediately after the new act, Juvenile Justice Act 2000,
coming in to being.

The details in the table 3.1 provide a statistical abstract of delinquency incidence
by the child population in the country in the year 2001-2002. Going by the details in table

18
there were in all 9252 criminal acts registered for various crimes under IPC and LSL. It
has already been noted that the number of crimes committed by children vary from year
to year as there were changes due to local situations, changes in legal provision, and also
the kind of changes taking place in the socio economic cultural fabrics of the society.
Such changes are taking place so fast and so frequently that there would be alterations in
the arrangements due to influences from outside as well as the changes within due to
increasing standard of education. Changes in the attitudes and perception of the people
(psychological changes) and the changes in the material culture and living arrangements
what people can find for themselves in this fast globalizing era are also contributing
factors. The details in the table 3.1 provide the juvenile delinquency status in the country
which has found alterations considerably over the years. Indeed the details for this
changing situation of occurrence of juvenile delinquency in the country which reveals the
trends and patterns in it. If at all we can notice them from the statistics available which
are provided in the table 3.2 below. The details in the table reveal the drastic decline in
the incidence of child crimes in India. We shall take up the details for child crimes
recorded under the provision of special and local laws in the country. It is very
interesting to note from the details in the table that the incidence of child crime has
come down considerably under these SLL provisions.

19
 Table 3.2 Number of Juvenile Delinquency under SLL cases in India, 1971 to 2011

Narcotic
Immoral
Drugs Explosive &
Prohi Traffic Indian
Arms and Gamb- Excise Explosive Other
Year bition (Prev Railways Total
Act Psycho. ling Act Act Substances Crimes
Act ention Act
Substa- Act
Act)
nces Act
1971 237 163 16244 3193 38369 95 1617 16099 66743 142760
1981 7602 407 22429 4661 25654 168 1855 4393 41077 108246
1986 1182 569 10919 1988 15390 39 1090 3642 43924 78743
1987 1071 475 11854 2546 22660 311 1102 5069 40081 85169
1988 268 56 4125 971 8632 78 406 228 10704 25468
1991 169 43 1477 369 2841 13 283 16 16932 22143
1992 96 20 828 135 1385 13 95 15 4945 7532
1993 100 13 818 127 1161 2 128 6 4844 7199
1994 115 33 363 106 663 3 47 5 4627 5962
1995 56 26 240 182 732 5 50 7 3957 5255
1996 44 34 363 378 1282 2 104 16 3496 5719
1997 101 11 97 212 152 1 83 26 3725 4408
1998 45 18 277 123 1313 - 227 15 3989 6007
1999 40 9 113 75 733 7 75 105 4412 5569
2000 35 16 131 113 519 2 82 78 4178 5154
2001 154 52 763 613 1007 3 125 26 5589 8332
2002 162 56 675 526 930 10 49 81 6274 8981
2003 232 62 863 508 1117 9 48 110 4692 7867
2004 201 54 989 480 566 8 47 28 3383 5756
2005 192 76 1061 472 830 9 50 0 3972 6662
2006 280 65 1116 556 632 3 79 11 2504 5246
2007 322 80 1013 556 510 8 60 0 2207 4756
2008 265 70 779 374 408 7 33 6 1603 3545
2009 223 61 1149 465 592 16 18 2 1795 4321
2010 154 82 326 249 314 13 10 2 1408 2558
2011 159 78 424 198 313 11 15 2 1637 2837

Abbr.: S L L : Special and Local Laws.

Note: As per revised definition of Juvenile Justice Act 2000, the boys in the age
group 16-18 years have also been considered as Juveniles.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs &Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation, Govt. of India. (ON315)

The above table 3.2 contains statistically details about various criminal acts
conducted by children in the country during 40 years from 1971 to 2011. These acts were
registered under the provision of different acts that have been in vogue from time to time.
The general trend what it is established in considerable decline in the incidence of child

20
crimes under various provision of various special and local laws (SLL). With the increase
in the age of male juvenile Delinquents from 16 to 18 years in the JJ Act 2000, the
number of such registered cases increased suddenly and again there was decline in their
numbers. The 1970s and 1980s the two decadal periods, had been considerable number of
registration of child criminal cases in India under the provisions of SLL.

The 1970s and 1980s was the time in India when lot of new initiatives for
development were taken up by the governments under five year economic plans and also
the period when considerable political developments too were taking place. Internal
political rivalry, formation of new political outfits with a orientation of formation of new
statehoods on local considerations on the lines of ethnic considerations, industrialization,
urbanization, migratory movements to city and to outside Indian destinations, all have
had their implications to family and child rearing. The economy particularly with urban
orientation started growing considerably during this time. Lot of social, economic and
cultural upheavals that started gaining shape had their own implications to the delinquent
attitude among people in the society, more particularly the younger ones.

The details in table 3.2 above refer only to such recorded deviant actions of
children considered only under the special and local laws. The criminal acts of children
registered under the IPC outnumber those registered under the SLL. The details of such
criminal cases registered under IPC are given in table 3.3 below which reveal a sort of
upward trend when they are considered independently and also in comparison with
crimes committed by adults. The details are available in comparison to the existing
population for each year from 1998 till 2012 and also rate of juvenile crime is estimated
for each year. The details are given in the following table 3.3

21
Table: 3.3 Incidences and Rate of Juvenile Delinquency under IPC Crime in India

(1998 to2012)

Incidence of % age of
Estimated
Juvenile Rate of
Total Mid Year
Year Juvenile Crimes to Crime by
Cognizable Population*
Crimes Total Juveniles
Crimes (In Lakh)
Crimes

1998 9352 1778815 0.5 9709 1.0

1999 8888 1764629 0.5 9866 0.9

2000 9267 1771084 0.5 10021 0.9

2001 ** 16509 1769308 0.9 10270 1.6

2002 18560 1780330 1.0 10506 1.8

2003 17819 1716120 1.0 10682 1.7

2004 19229 1832015 1.0 10856 1.8

2005 18939 1822602 1.0 11028 1.7

2006 21088 1878293 1.1 11198 1.9

2007 22865 1989673 1.1 11366 2.0

2008 24535 2093379 1.2 11531 2.1

2009 23926 2121345 1.1 11694 2.0

2010 22740 2224831 1.0 11858 1.9

2011 ## 25125 2325575 1.1 12102 2.1

2012 27936 2387188 1.2 12134 2.3

Note: *: The Registrar General of India.

**: Actual population as per 2001 Census.
#: The boy's age group of 16-18 years has also been considered as
Juveniles since 2001 onwards as per revised definition of Juvenile Justice Act.
##: Actual Census-2011 Population (Provisional).
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. (ON346)

From the table 4.3 above we may notice that the juvenile crimes under IPC
provisions have been increasing along the increasing number of crimes by adults
implying that total crime incidence is increasing consistently contrary to our belief that
the juvenile crime is decreasing in incidence and magnitude in the country. The rate of

22
juvenile crimes has increased by about one time during 1998 to 2012 as the details in the
above table reveal. This is something very strange to find that while juvenile crime under
SLL is decreasing, under IPC it is increasing. What type of crimes are the crimes of the
kind committed and under what provisions, and sub- provisions of the IPC are given in
the following table 3.4 which provide a total picture of the type of crimes committed by
the juveniles and also what is the extent and pattern of juvenile crimes we get to know
from the details.

Table 3.4 Crime Head-Wise Number of Juvenile Delinquency IPC Cases in India
(2011)
Crime Heads 2011 percentage
Murder (Sec. 302 IPC) 888 2.74
Attempt to Commit Murder (Sec. 307 IPC) 642 1.98
C.H. not Amounting Murder (Sec. 304, 308 IPC) 51 0.15
Rape (Sec. 376 IPC) 1149 3.55
Custodial Rape 0 0
Other Rape 1149 3.55
Kidnapping and Abduction (Sec. 363-369, 371-373 IPC) 760 2.34
(i) Of Women and Girls 600 1.85
(ii) Of others 160 0.49
Dacoity (Sec. 395-398 IPC) 134 0.41
Preparation and Assembly for Dacoity (Sec. 399-402 IPC) 33 0.10
Robbery (Sec. 392-394, 397, 398 IPC) 639 1.97
Burglary (Sec. 449-452, 454, 455, 457-460 IPC) 2609 8.06
Theft (Sec. 379-382 IPC) 5320 16.44
(i) Auto Theft 1475 4.55
(ii) Other Theft 3845 11.88
4.16
Riots (Sec. 143-145, 147-151, 153, 153A, 153B, 157, 158, 160 IPC) 1347

Criminal Breach of Trust (Sec. 406-409 IPC) 24 0.07

Cheating (Sec. 419, 420 IPC) 161 0.49
Counterfeiting (Sec. 231-254, 489A-489D IPC) 20 0.06
Arson (Sec. 435, 436, 438 IPC) 93 0.28
Hurt (Sec. 323-333, 335-338 IPC) 4096 12.65
Dowry Deaths (Sec. 304B IPC) 93 0.28
Molestation (Sec. 354 IPC) 573 1.77
Sexual Harassment (Sec. 509 IPC) 168 0.51
Cruelty by Husband and Relatives (Sec. 498A IPC) 322 0.99
Importation of Girls (Sec. 366B IPC) 1 0.00
Death due to Negligence (304A IPC) 157 0.48
Other Ipc Crimes 5845 18.06
Total Cognizable Crimes under IPC 32354 100.00

Abbr.: IPC: Indian Penal Code.

Note: As per revised definition of Juvenile Justice Act the boys age group of 16
18 years has also been considered as Juveniles since 2001.
: Indicates infinite variation because of division by zero.
: Indicates that the Crime Head was not introduced till that year.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. (ON276)

23
 The details from the above table 3.4 reveal that the economic crimes over 8000
reported cases are prominent in terms of they being committed for which the poverty is
the main reason. Also easy life as it has gained momentum among adolescents from the
urban underclass sections has made the young lads to commit crime of the nature. What
all different types of crimes the children commit is one thing that gets revealed from the
details in the table 3.4. There are over 30 types of registered crimes committed by the
children. The sex related crime (over 3000) has picked up among the young lads which is
a dangerous trend in a traditional society like ours. There were 2298 reported cases of
rapes alone conducted by children in 2011. Quarrel has picked up as another criminal
behavior. Dowry related and wife battering for dowry and other purposes seem
unbelievable at this age but yet it is a reality. Causing physical harm to others in riots,
and killing and murdering others for either rivalry, or and mostly mercenary gains got
established in Indian society too.

These crimes committed by children in India during 2011 have not uniformly
occurred all over but scattered in different tit bits in a vast geographical area. While in
certain state areas there were less number of juvenile crimes occurred, in certain other
states they were found to be very low. The details are given in the following table 3.5.

24
 Table-3.5 State-wise Number of Juvenile Delinquency under Different
Crime Heads (IPC) in India - Part II (2011)

Crimi-
Prepa Riots (Sec 143
Robbery Burglary Theft (Sec 379-382 nal
Dacoity ration and 145, 147-151,
(Sec 392- (Sec 449-452, IPC) Breach of
States/UTs (Sec 395 Assembly for 153,153A,
394, 397, 454, 455, 457 Trust (Sec
398 IPC) Dacoity (Sec 153B,157, 158,
399 - 402 IPC) 398 IPC) - 460 IPC) Auto Other 160 IPC) 406 -409
Total IPC)
Theft Theft
Andaman and
Nicobar 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0
Islands
Andhra
3 0 22 229 646 152 494 23 1
Pradesh
Arunachal
0 0 1 18 26 3 23 0 0
Pradesh
Assam 0 0 9 67 121 3 118 7 0
Bihar 9 2 49 18 109 37 72 248 0
Chandigarh 1 0 12 9 19 6 13 4 0
Chhattisgarh 12 0 25 384 311 55 256 85 1
Dadra and
0 0 0 1 3 3 0 1 0
Nagar Haveli
Daman and
0 0 4 3 0 0 0 6 0
Diu
Delhi 1 1 64 31 259 110 149 0 1
Goa 0 0 1 21 33 18 15 1 0
Gujarat 15 2 42 206 343 118 225 117 1
Haryana 2 3 5 65 124 51 73 38 3
Himachal
0 0 0 29 44 15 29 16 0
Pradesh
Jammu and
0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0
Kashmir
Jharkhand 4 0 2 3 25 4 21 30 0
Karnataka 4 0 6 51 43 8 35 14 0
Kerala 4 1 20 74 89 35 54 102 0
Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Madhya
8 4 59 287 427 99 328 108 1
Pradesh
Maharashtra 48 14 176 571 1256 378 878 442 8
Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meghalaya 3 0 8 8 32 2 30 0 0
Mizoram 0 0 0 12 18 0 18 0 0
Nagaland 0 0 2 6 7 0 7 0 0
Odisha 8 0 17 73 106 3 103 6 0
Puducherry 1 1 0 4 14 4 10 0 0
Punjab 0 2 5 8 43 4 39 0 2
Rajasthan 1 3 46 205 349 154 195 18 1
Sikkim 0 0 0 8 22 1 21 0 0
Tamil Nadu 3 0 30 154 499 188 311 40 0
Tripura 0 0 0 0 9 1 8 2 0
Uttar Pradesh 3 0 32 51 223 16 207 23 4
Uttarakhand 0 0 0 10 20 5 15 0 0
West Bengal 4 0 2 0 98 2 96 14 1
3 3
India 134 639 2609 5320 1475 3845 1347 24

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. (ON276)

25
Table.3.5 continued..State-wise N u m b e r of J u v e n i l e D e l i n q u e n c y u n d e r
D i f f e r e n t C r i m e H e a d s ( I P C ) in I n d i a - Part I (2011)

C. H.
Atte Kidnapping and
Not
mpt to Rape (Sec 376 IPC) A b d u c t i o n (Sec 363 -
Murder Amoun
Commit 3 6 9 , 371 - 373 IPC)
(Sec ting to
States/UTs Murder
302 Murder of Total
(Sec
IPC) (Sec Custo- Women of
307
3 0 4 , 3 0 8 Total dial
Others Total
and Others
IPC)
IPC) Girls
11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Andaman and 8
Nicobar 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Islands
Andhra 1091
64 34 5 59 0 59 55 25 30
Pradesh
Arunachal 72
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pradesh
Assam 16 1 0 34 0 34 44 33 11 498
Bihar 46 76 1 17 0 17 51 29 22 803
Chandigarh 5 7 0 1 0 1 5 4 1 88
Chhattisgarh 57 39 0 80 0 80 14 14 0 1289
Dadra a n d 10
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nagar Haveli
Daman and 13
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Diu
Delhi 37 24 0 47 0 47 30 25 5 831
Goa 4 1 0 3 0 3 1 1 0 102
Gujarat 43 20 1 16 0 16 50 45 5 1265
Haryana 15 15 0 18 0 18 17 14 3 464
Himachal 165
4 2 0 9 0 9 4 4 0
Pradesh
Jammu and 6
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kashmir
Jharkhand 6 1 1 16 0 16 35 24 11 199
Karnataka 26 8 0 18 0 18 39 36 3 309
Kerala 12 7 1 21 0 21 6 6 0 453
Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Madhya 2318
112 127 4 271 0 271 106 105 1
Pradesh
Maharashtra 145 135 5 125 0 125 50 36 14 4433
Manipur 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meghalaya 10 0 0 20 0 20 1 0 1 135
Mizoram 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 54
Nagaland 2 0 0 5 0 5 3 0 3 40
Odisha 19 7 0 44 0 44 13 10 3 456
Puducherry 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 39
Punjab 11 5 3 8 0 8 6 2 4 150
Rajasthan 71 65 3 79 0 79 59 49 10 1387
Sikkim 1 0 0 3 0 3 1 1 0 61
T a m i l Nadu 45 33 1 14 0 14 9 8 1 1350
Tripura 7 0 0 12 0 12 0 0 0 51
Uttar P r a d e s h 81 24 23 146 0 146 74 66 8 1127
Uttarakhand 2 1 1 5 0 5 9 6 3 82
West Bengal 41 5 2 74 0 74 78 57 21 569
India 888 642 51 1149 0 1149 760 600 160 19918

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. (ON276)

26
 The above table 3.5 provides details about various types of crimes committed by
children as registered under IPC provisions by the authorities concerned in different
regional areas in the country. The regional variations can be seen in the context of size of
each of state and centrally administered territory. It is clear from the details in the table
4.5 that a bigger state has larger number of child crime registered and smaller states
having registered very smaller numbers driving a point home that larger the state higher
the incidence of juvenile delinquency and smaller the state lower the incidence of child
crime. Geographically size of a state need not to have this kind of a phenomenon set but
obviously the physical and demographic size have their contributions to criminal
tendency for there could be difficulties arising in regulating by keeping close watch on
people due to size problem. The state in India also has not been able to gear them to
develop police and the judiciary matching the size of geographical area and demographic
size. Besides these, possibly the larger size criminal tendencies are developed in the wake
of economic problems the people have to their credits. It in this context people develop
an attitude of 'some how' make a living in threatening to the law and order problem in
such societies. It is clear from the details in table 4.5 that larger size state like Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Chattisgad
have recorded higher incidence of child crimes. Among these the traditional backward
states Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have larger share of child
crime incidences. Maharashtra being more industrialized and consequently urbanized has
seen within its context higher incidence of child crimes recorded under different
provisions of the existing laws.

The child crimes are committed not only by boys but also by girls. The gender
wise distribution of child delinquent activities for the period from 1971 to 2004, not only
provide a picture of magnitude of girls delinquent tendency but also give an idea about
the trends of girls delinquent activities in India over the years in recent past. The details
are given in the flowing table 3.6

27
Table: 3.6 Gender Wise Distributions of Juvenile Delinquents in India from 1971 to 2004

Delinquents (IPC+LSL) Rate of Incidence

% of Girls
Year (In Thousands) of Crime* per
to Total
Boys Girls Total Lakh Population
1971 98.0 5.4 103.4 5.3 4.9
1972 121.0 7.2 128.2 5.6 5.6
1973 122.2 5.6 127.8 4.3 6.4
1974 132.1 8.5 140.6 6.1 6.9
1975 132.6 9.3 141.9 6.6 6.6
1976 124.6 9.4 134.0 7.0 6.0
1977 138.5 10.4 148.9 7.0 7.0
1978 151.2 9.7 160.9 6.0 6.9
1979 160.3 9.7 170.0 5.7 7.1
1980 178.1 9.5 187.6 5.0 8.3
1981 181.9 8.7 190.6 4.6 8.9
1982 157.6 10.7 168.3 6.3 8.4
1983 160.5 11.1 171.6 6.5 7.7
1984 149.8 12.5 162.3 7.7 5.8
1985 157.1 11.4 168.5 6.8 6.6
1986 160.0 10.1 170.1 6.0 7.3
1987 166.4 13.6 180.0 7.5 6.7
1988 33.1 5.1 38.2 13.4 3.1
1989 24.8 11.6 36.4 31.9 2.3
1990 25.3 5.5 30.8 18.0 1.8
1991 23.2 6.4 29.6 21.6 1.5
1992 17.4 3.9 21.3 18.2 1.3
1993 16.4 3 . 7
20.1 18.3 1.1
1994 13.9 3.4 17.3 19.5 1.0
1995 14.5 4.3 18.8 22.6 1.1
1996 14.1 5.0 19.1 26.3 1.1
1997 14.3 3 . 5
17.8 19.7 0.8
1998 14.0 5.0 19.0 26.2 1.0
1999 13.1 5.4 18.5 29.1 0.9
2000 13.9 4.1 18.0 23.0 0.9
2001c 31.3 2.3 33.6 6.9 1.6
2002c 33.6 2.2 35.8 6.2 1.8
2003 31.0 2.3 33.3 7.0 1.7
2004 28.9 2.1 31.0 6.7 1.8

Source: Ministry of home affairs, government of India, New Delhi.

It is clear from the details in the above table 3.6 that the girls are no better when it comes
to their criminal attitudes and acts. The child criminal cases were registered under

28
provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Local and Special Laws (LSL). The detail
indicates that girls have their due share of crime increasing consistently from 1971 to
2000 and declined suddenly from 2001. It is historically proved that the women did have
their participation in criminal acts either individually or in group. In fact women were
used in different clandestine activates like espionage, murder, thefts etc. all though
historical times indicting their active participation in this kind of activates too. If we go
by the incidence of crime per lakh population as given in the table 3.6, 1970s and 1980s
was a prime time and ripe period in the criminal history of Indian society for such
activates which started declining in 1990s and thereafter. On an average about one in
every four child crimes is committed by girls accounting for roughly about 20 to 25
percent. This is quite alarming in a traditional society like ours where girl child is
protected and provided for all its needs by parents and other relatives. She is also pushed
into criminal acts mostly under duress or compulsions by the vested interests of both
male and female types.

The delinquency has been considered as urban phenomenon in the sense that it is
only in the towns and cities where due to anonymity and also other living conditions
people develop the tendency of committing crime unless otherwise it is conducted out of
necessity of saving a life under threat. The bigger size cities are the preferred centers for
cognizable and incorrigible crimes conducted. For children to committee crime in cities,
it is easier by bunking school, or joining with other criminals to indulge in such activities.
The details available for child crimes in metropolitan cities in India provide us the
scenario of urban juvenile delinquency. The details are presented in table 3.7 below

29
 Table: 3.7 City Wise Distribution of Juvenile Delinquency in India 2002

Cri
Culpable min Cou Othe
Kidnapp Total
homi- Rob al Chea n- r
State/Uts/ Murd ing and Da- Burg- Thef Rio cogniz-
cide not Rape b- brea t ter IPC
City er abduc coity lary t ts able
amounting to ery ch ing feiti crim
tion crimes
murder of ng es
trust
City 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Ahmadabad 1 - - 2 - - 31 72 3 - - - 27 136
Bangalore 2 - - - 1 12 46 - - - - 12 73
Bhopal - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chennai - - - - - - 4 8 - - 1 - 8 21
Coimbatore - - - 4 8 - - - - - 12
Delhi _ 8 9
-

5 - 6 62 102 1 - 2 1 103 299

Hyderabad - - - - 1 - 20 122 - - - - - 153
Indore 4 - 2 2 - 2 5 22 - - - - 110 147
Jaipur - - - - - - 22 3 - - - 11 60
Kanpur - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kochi - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - 1
Kolkata - - - - - - 1 1 - - - - - 2
Lucknow - - - - - - 2 - - - - - - 4
Ludhiana - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Madurai - - - - 6 3 14 16 5 - - - 13 57
Mumbai 5 - 3 - - 7 29 74 1 - 1 - 72 192
Nagpur 2 - 1 - - 2 37 31 2 - - - 26 101
Patna - 1 - - 2 - 6 2 - 2 - 16 29
Pune - - 2 - - - 16 44 2 - 1 2 12 79
Surat - - - 1 - 1 2 14 2 - - - 10 30
Vadodara 2 - - - - - 6 12 2 - - - 32 54
Varanasi - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Vishakhapatnam - - - - - - 13 5 3 - - - - 6 72

Source: ministry of home affairs government of India, 2002

The details in the above table 3.7 reveal that the size of a community has something to do
with the incidence of crime and delinquency. The table 3.7 reveals the child crimes in
selected metropolitan cites in India implying a larger size city like Ahmadabad, Delhi,
Indore, Mumbai, Nagpur having seen good number of child crime incidence in their
contexts. Delhi and Mumbai, being very large megacities have recorded 299 and 192
child crimes in one particular year. O f these most of the crimes committed relate to

30
robbery and theft conducted for the economic reasons. In most of the cities the child
crime committed refers to largely the economic ones. This is due to poverty prevalence
among the poor migrants in city who would have shifted to city looking for better
chances to eke out a good living which otherwise go difficult for the reason of very high
cost of living and as a result they hardly succeed in improving their economy. The
perennial poverty in which the migrant families situate themselves encourage children to
venture out for easy prays and once they into it the be in it forever.

3.7 Juvenile Delinquency in Karnataka

Karnataka is a state located in the peninsular part of India with having good natural
resources and a population with developmental orientations .It is moderately
industrialized and also urbanized. A l l round development in the state, particularly
education, transportation and communication, health infrastructure, water supply and
sanitation, information technology, tourism, etc. is quite visible in the state. Migration of
people is quite observed which has resulted into steady urban growth in the state.
th
Karnataka is 5 biggest urbanized state in the country. Bangalore the capital of the state
is also the financial, industrial, educational, cultural and political capital of the state.
There is a huge concentration of human activities in Bangalore city which have made the
th
city the 5 mega city in the country, which is also known for crime activities of
underground nature etc. Indeed the city tops the recorded cases of juvenile delinquency.
Before we take up the details for child crime in different regions (cities) in the state, we
would like to present the juvenile delinquency scenario in the state under different legal
provisions that have been in vogue in the following. The details presented in the table no.
4.5 reveal the juvenile delinquency scenario in country. In the year 2011, there were
about 309 cases of child delinquency recorded under different legal provisions in the state
as per the records of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. However, going by the
inmates numbers in different observation homes in Karnataka, for the same year (2010
2011) there were about 1017 inmates as the details in table 3.8 reveal. It is quite likely
that all of them may not have been considered delinquents as they would be waiting for
the decision of the authority about their act of guilt.

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 Table: 3.8

Juvenile Delinquents or Juveniles in Conflict with Law according to J.J Act of 2000

Sl. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
2011
Place
2012
No 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

1 Bangalore 105 83 82 164 236 230 305 312 314 317 321 323

2 Dharwad 79 77 77 126 108 135 179 77 70 68 66 61

3 Mangalore 120 83 70 96 16 125 94 41 31 50 53 58

4 Bijapur 51 52 55 32 29 29 31 72 70 25 15 12

5 Bellary 150 166 124 110 31 16 04 68 66 58 55 53

6 Shimoga 128 152 124 87 31 103 110 115 92 85 82 78

7 Mysore 110 94 110 100 105 100 76 109 102 112 117 121

8 Gulbarga 80 82 75 90 85 92 91 85 79 75 68 65

9 Belgaum 100 102 150 170 165 171 175 182 230 235 240 242

Total 923 891 867 975 806 1001 1065 1061 1054 1025 1017 1013

Source: Dept. of Women and Child Development, Government of Karnataka Bangalore.

Trends of Juvenile Delinquency in India in general and Karnataka in particular have

changed in the recent years as statistical details in the foregoing tables reveal. In rural
area and in small district places delinquency is decreasing. But in metropolitan cities like
Bangalore delinquency is little increasing. In big districts like Belgaum it is increasing.
But in overall Karnataka delinquency rate is decreasing. In 2006-2007, 1065 delinquency
were there. But in 2008-2009 it was 1054. So delinquency is decreasing in Karnataka bit-
by-bit. There are many reasons for decreasing delinquency rates. Standard of life is
becoming good in Karnataka. In Schools Bisi Uta (Delicious Food) is introduced.
Because of Bisi Uta poor children rush to Schools these days. So that crime automatically
decreasing. The main reason for delinquency is poverty. When poor children are going to

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school because of Bisi Uta, so the poor Children stopped to commit offences. Many
government developmental schemes and programmes have helped increase people's
standard of life. So child crime rate is decreasing slowly and steadily. In the backdrop of
consideration of the child crime scenario in India as well as in Karnataka, we shall move
on to consider the juvenile delinquents in Karnataka for developing a profile and also to
examine the source of such an act which blemish them socially and also otherwise.

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