Crime luring middle class youth: Police

BITTER REALITY
Crime luring middle class youth: Police
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: With the arrest of three middle class youth, the Goa police not only unraveled the mystery behind thefts, where parked cars were broken into and valuables stolen, but also opened the society’s eyes to a bitter truth. Cases of middle class youth getting drawn to a life of crime are on the rise.
Calangute police arrested three young boys — Gaurish Kerkar alias Gawde, Venkatesh Shintal and Nitin Anande — in the age group of 20-23, from Porvorim, for their alleged involvement in thefts from vehicles at Candolim and Panaji late Monday night. The parents of two of the boys are government employees, while one boy’s father is a businessman. All the accused are school drop-outs.
Calangute PI Tushar Vernekar, explaining the modus operandi of the youth, said that they would keep a watch on vehicles outside night clubs and casinos. “Once the place was empty, they would strike and escape with the booty. The motive was to earn fast money,” said Vernekar.
Last week, two youth were arrested by the Ponda police for their alleged role in robberies in Panaji, Porvorim and Pernem.
According to the police, cases of middle class youth committing crime are on the rise. “Children from middle class families are taking to crime not because of any compulsion, but by choice as they want to make easy money,” said SP (north) Bosco George. Psychiatrists and psychologists feel that this is a result of decreasing moral values imparted by parents to their children and the increasing tendency among the youth to be lured by money and short term gains.
“Movies also glorify criminals. Moreover, once a person commits a crime, it becomes a way of life for him/her. They stop worrying about getting caught or punished. The argument often put forth by such persons is that ‘everyone is looting the people and so are we. When the society is corrupt, why should we deprive ourselves of all the goodies’,” said Dr Ajoy Estibeiro, a psychiatrist.
Fr Socorro Mendes of the family counselling centre said , “Today’s youth want to become affluent and often imitate movies and take every action in life as a challenge.”

October 1,2008, The Times of India, Goa edition