The spate of petty thefts in BA Block continues. Two more houses were targeted on the stormy night of May 1 with a group of children caught breaking off pipes of air conditioners (AC) attached outside homes.
AC pipe thefts have suddenly become rampant in the fringes of Salt Lake with blocks like BA and AA reporting multiple cases over the past month. The Telegraph had reported the same in the article “Thieves target BA Block AC pipes”, published on April 29.
The children have been targeting ground floor pipes as they are easily accessible and sell the copper inside them for easy money. At least two children caught previously in the act admitted they would buy drugs with the money.
On May 1, five kids allegedly broke and stole an AC pipe at BA 142 at about 10pm. They fled the scene and at about 11pm, when the rain and storm began, climbed the parapet of BA 74 to do the same.
“We heard noises and ran outside to see some kids breaking the pipes,” says Kalyan Mitra of BA 74. They gave chase and caught three boys and a girl, while the eldest boy managed to flee. “The boys we caught looked like they were 12 to 14 years of age. They were bare-chested and shivering in the rain. Although the girl looked quite young, she claimed the boy who ran away was her husband. They also said they had been caught in the act three to four times before.”
Neighbours gathered and interrogated the kids till the police arrived. "The kids said they hailed from the slum behind Bidhan Sishu Udyan. Each had four or five siblings and had Rs 50 to 100 in their pockets, which they said they had earning from begging,” said Mitra. “In fact they pleaded with us to let them go, saying they would compensate our loss by begging on the streets. We were feeling sorry for them.”
Police picked up the kids and handed them over to government homes for children. “It’s true that petty thefts have increased but none of the localities these kids hail from fall under our jurisdiction,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar north police station. “We have increased patrolling in the fringe blocks on our part.”
BA Block secretary Prasenjit Saha had rushed to the scene when the kids were caught. “It is alarming how frequent pipe thefts are becoming but it is unfair to blame the police administration who have limited resources. We have night guards on duty but many of these thefts are taking place even in the afternoon or evening, before they start patrolling. We are trying to expand our CCTV coverage area and are sending out alerts to residents to stay on guard,” he said.
In New Town too, petty thefts are on the rise from the beginning of the year and again, most of the accused are children. In some cases, kids as young as 10 to 12 years have been caught stealing taps, cycles, gas oven burners of caretakers’ rooms on the ground floors.
Many of the accused are themselves children of caretakers or from canalside slums. Thefts have been reported from Action Area 1 including from blocks like BF, BC, DB, CE AE and many more. In most cases parents of the kids were warned but police complaints were not filed as they were minors.
In Salt Lake’s BA Block, president Arunava Das felt this was a social problem, more than a law and order one. “It has only got aggravated due to the pandemic as children stayed away from schools and got distracted by drugs and other evils. But these kids, despite being thieves, cannot hide their innocence. We shall try to engage NGOs and approach nearby slums to try and help them,” said Das.
How can underprivileged children be stopped from getting into a life of crime?
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