Representative image of a police officer.
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Bengaluru: The Bengaluru city police, best known for adopting cutting-edge technologies towards policing, took the religious route to deal with a case of a minor boy turning into a habitual offender and placed him in a Jamaat for counselling. But the boy fled the place in just three days.
Jamaat refers to an Islamic council or community which counsels people who are involved in wrongdoing and perform acts that deviate from social norms.
The Bengaluru East police recently sent a 15-year-old boy, who was allegedly involved in more than 10 cases, to a Jamaat for counselling.
This came after he repeatedly committed crimes even after coming out of the Juvenile shelter.
He allegedly also stole a mobile phone from a former Karnataka Municipal Administration and Sericulture minister last year, who resides in Banaswadi police station jurisdiction.
The former minister was out for his regular morning walk and was using his phone when the minor boy sped by him and snatched it.
After the ex-minister filed a complaint, police zeroed in on the boy and were shocked after his detention as they learnt about his history of repeatedly committing thefts.
'Habitual offender'
A senior police officer said that the boy was involved in three cases each of robbery and theft within a span of 10 days by the end of the last year in Ramamurthy Nagar police station limits. That is not all. He allegedly stole ten bikes in Hennur police station jurisdiction, which were recovered after his detention.
Another officer said: “He mastered the lock-breaking technique which he used for stealing two-wheelers and carting them away with no difficulty.”
Police sources told DH that after multiple thefts, the boy was sent to the shelter of the Juvenile Board but after he came out, he was again involved in frequent thefts and robberies. When he was caught again, police decided to enrol him in a Madrassa.
‘Jamaat reformed him’
D Devaraja, Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) said that in January they decided to house the boy in Jamaat for 30 days and sent him, but he fled the place after three days.
“He has not been involved in any thefts or robberies in the last 25 days. It appears that the move of sending him to Jamaat has partially reformed him,” he said.
The boy is a resident of Eastern Bengaluru’s Banaswadi subdivision. His mother is the only breadwinner of the family after his father passed away a few years ago. He has a younger brother.