BENGALURU: In the space of less than ten days, some 22 juvenile delinquents have escaped from a state run observation home in Madiwala, with 13 of them assaulting their guards and escaping early on Tuesday morning, raising questions anew on why authorities had not learnt lessons from the first escape bid on July 23 and put new safety measures in place. Termed ' Children who are in conflict with law (CCL), the 13 escapees assaulted two guards before they ran away from the state-run observation home situated in Madiwla in south-east Bengaluru.
The two guards have been identified as Ramesh Babu and Suresh K R. This is the second such incident within a week where the juvenile delinquents have managed to escape. Earlier on July 23, nine juveniles slipped out of the observation home by cutting through the iron grills of the bathroom. Two days after they escaped, the police who had received a missing complaint managed to trace four of them.
When Deccan Chronicle visited the state run home, a source from the Madiwala-state run observation home said that one of the juveniles, a murder convict is the mastermind behind the mass jailbreak. This time the juvenile managed to influence all the others in the correctional facility and successfully managed to make their getaway.
"It is suspected that the juveniles had carefully planned the escape. At around 1 a.m they were playing carom when as per their plan, they staged a fight. This brought one of the guards on night duty to go into check. They overpowered him and managed to get the keys of the main gate from him. Hearing the commotion, the other guard too went inside. The juveniles punched him and pushed him around, before escaping," added the source.
"Knowing the law, the masterminds use the minors to commit the crime as they know they will get away easily," she said. Ms Nesargi said, "I believe the custodians of Juvenile Justice Act, keeping the welfare of the children in conflict with law (CCLs) should not override the idea of penalising them or punishing them for the heinous crime they have committed by giving them a cover under Juvenile Justice Act. The law should be amended immediately. Otherwise, if , the children are not involved in nefarious activities what's the need to escape or run away. Rather, if, not kept separately, they would influence others who would later may become seasoned criminals,"
