Parents hire private eyes to snoop on kids

 Parents are hiring private detectives to keep tabs on their children, particularly to know if they are taking drugs.

Detectives in the City say that more parents were hiring them after seeing ‘behavioural problems’ among their children, and getting complaints that they are bunking classes.
“Getting calls from parents every day has become very common since the past few years.
Parents tell us that they some suspicion about their children but cannot confirm it. In most cases, parents want to know if their child is taking drugs and alcohol after witnessing behavioural problems,” said Naman Jain from Sleuths India.

According to Jain, detectives are also being hired by parents are to find out how their children behave when they go to clubs and to know about their love life.

“We get around 50 such cases every month. There are more cases of college students in this category, specially when it comes to drug abuse,” said Jain. The frequency of calls from parents increases during festival seasons like Christmas Eve, Garba dances and Valentine’s Day, he says.

Parents of schoolchildren are also hiring detectives. “Parents get calls from teachers or principals that their children regularly bunk classes and most of the times, when asked about it, the children lie. So parents are forced to hire a detective. We get at least 80 per cent of cases from parents who want to know if their child is indulging in sexual activity, theft or drug abuse. And they are not limited to standard 11th or 12th  students, but even younger,” said  Akriti Khatri from Venus Detectives.

According to Rajesh Kumar of GSIS Detective, agencies charge Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 for such inquiries. “It is not time specific. Nobody can tell when a child will go and buy drugs from a supplier or meet someone. We have to track the person for several days. In most of the cases, the parents' hunch turns out to be right,” said Kumar.

“Parents have money but no time. They hire us so that if their hunch is true, they can find a solution - change the school, college or the city, or stop the child from mingling in the same circle. Every day, we get two to three calls from such worried parents,” added Khatri.

As far as school and college authorities are concerned, the prime reason for them to hire a detective is to keep a check on drug abuse on the campus.

“Some hire us to know if student unions are planning any anti-administration campaigns,” added Jain.