When children become shields for criminals

NEW DELHI: As snatchers are devising new ways to commit crimes, a modus operandi has emerged where young children are used by criminals as a shield and in some cases even asked to commit the offence so that they do not face the wrath of the public or police when caught. In recent a case, a 22-yearold man snatched a mobile phone from a woman in the Bindapur area but his luck ran out when he was arrested by police. The investigation revealed that the accused was keeping a small girl, who was known to him, on the motorcycle so that no one can get suspicious about his activities.

Police said that on June 8, the woman was coming back home from a market when one boy and a girl came on a bike and snatched her phone and fled. She informed the police about the incident. “She told us that the age of boy would be around 16-17 years and the pillion rider age would be around 11 years,” police said.

On the statement of the lady, a case was registered and during investigation one Sudhir Kumar Godriya (22) was arrested. The phone was recovered. “The girl who was the pillion rider on the day of the incident was nine years old. The accused was keeping her with him just to avoid suspicion,” an official said. According to one officer, “If he is roaming alone during lockdown he can be questioned but if he is keeping minor girl people may think he is taking her somewhere, no one can think that the person will commit snatching,” an official said, adding that they are scanning his previous involvements.

“To curb snatching in Dwarka, we regularly change timings of pickets to bring an element of surprise,” DCP (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said adding that CCTV cameras are installed in strategic locations through which they keep an eye on movements of criminals in the district.

This case was not the first time where children were used as a shield for criminals.

Last year two men who were involved in several theft cases in marriage ceremonies and were arrested from Central Delhi’s Shantivan area.

They moved in a group and use good looking youngsters to commit the crime. They targeted high profile marriage venues, where they enter as guests along with the children and carefully surround the target and victim and on getting an opportunity, the child would swiftly slip from the venue along with a bag carrying stolen cash and valuables. “The other members would escort the minor child in getting out from the marriage venue safely,” police said. In 2018, Delhi Police had busted a gang for recruiting teenagers to commit petty crimes. During the investigation, it was revealed that the gang used to target children from areas where parental supervision was far less. “Usually, the accused would recruit teenagers in his gang to commit crimes in moving trains and in the area around platforms,” police said.

The internally compiled data of Delhi Police revealed that about 664 FIRS and 173 Daily Diary entries were registered in which juveniles were involved in crime.

According to child rights body children are mostly not aware of legal action which they can face after committing a crime.