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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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Union Cabinet’s decision will be big deterrence to juvenile offenders

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By Dheeraj Fartode
THE Union Cabinet’s decision that empowers police to book juveniles (between 16-18 yrs age) under Indian Penal Code should come as a big deterrence for such offenders who were committing serious crimes but were getting away with no law to punish them. The statistics with Nagpur City Police reveal some shocking acts committed by juveniles.
In last three years and City Police have booked 1281 juvenile delinquents for committing serious crimes. Every year more than 400 juveniles were booked for crimes like murder, rape, robberies, dacoities in city limits.

Juvenile offenders
Data revealed that juveniles committed 35 murders while 32 were booked for attempt to murders. More shocking is the fact that 26 juveniles are facing charges of rape in the city. These figures are clear indicators of the brutality the juvenile delinquents indulge in but still evade punishment.

Juveniles are on the forefront in thefts too. As per the statistics, total 100 robberies were committed by juveniles in last three years along with 174 burglary and 14 dacoities. The number of thefts goes up to 368 including 163 vehicle thefts.

A senior police officer said that juveniles are repeat offenders and their interrogation reveals that they have no fear of law and law enforcement agencies.

Deterrence theory says that people obey the law because they are scared of getting caught and being punished. However, the theory does not apply to juveniles. The reason is the law enforcement agencies have no power to catch or punish the juveniles. They can only send them to reform homes.

“Nowadays, boys attain maturity at the age of 16. It means, they are mature enough to know about law and law enforcement agencies. If a boy (between age group 16-18) commits a murder then law directs police to send him at Reform Centres. In some cases, we have seen a juvenile, who had committed murder at the age of 16, committing 2-3 murders in next two years,” the officer added.

Cops also reiterated the fact that juvenile delinquents have no fear of law as law does not allow police to even interrogate them in police custody. In this backdrop the Union Cabinet’s approval to amendments in the Juvenile Justice Act, responding to national outcry after the Nirbhaya gang-rape case in Delhi, has come as a potent tool for the law enforcing agencies to deal with this serious issue.
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