The poor don’t have a monopoly on crime

Migrant labourers aren’t the only people committing crimes, for the wealthy and educated are just as prone. I will not take a position that migrant workers are more inclined to crime.

There is a public perception that migrants commit crimes. However, if you look at sexual crime statistics, particularly in places like Delhi, there is nothing to indicate that disadvantaged classes of migrants have committed heinous acts. Of course, being poor and alienated can be triggers but those aren’t the only things. The rich commit the same acts, whether they crimes for money or sexual crimes.

For example, you won’t find a single migrant construction worker on the MeToo list. This list almost exclusively features senior academicians, professors and opinIon makers.

What I am saying is that crime in India and anywhere else is not particularly to be identified with poor people. They do commit them but how can we say only poor commit crimes.

The government should provide them with education, employment and proper housing, giving them access to a decent life if they are to be steered away from a life of crime. And then, one would expect that the crime would decrease. It’s every citizen’s right to expect all this.  

I don’t think migrant workers are particularly a threat to woman and children. Crimes against children are in a category of their own and if you really look at it, these happen within homes. Within middle class and upper class homes, it appears. I am just saying that there might be a correlation but I don’t think one can push it too far. Crimes against children are not a question of your economic condition or social condition – they stem from a psychological abnormality which can happen to anybody.

The author has specialization in areas of Globalization and labor: Urban poverty: Social movements: Comparative development.