Boys at the Adharshila Observation Home again started fires on the premises on Wednesday, a day after 35 juveniles escaped from the rehabilitation centre following an eight-hour-long rampage and arson.
Ten of the escaped juveniles, aged between 16 and 18 , returned to the correction facility in north-west Delhi’s Kingsway Camp on Wednesday, the warden of the observation home said.
On Wednesday evening, about 12 boys set two or three rooms on fire. They began by burning blankets at around 5.30 pm, according to observation home chief Anil Kumar. “These juveniles were involved in yesterday’s vandalism so they were kept separately. After yesterday’s incident we fixed the kitchen first to provide the boys with food. We didn’t want to give them a reason to create a ruckus,” Kumar told Deccan Herald.
“But still they got frustrated and ended up burning things and before we could do anything they set the room on fire.”
The observation home staff said the situation was contained within half-an-hour.
“We are usually prepared for such a recurrence. So as soon as we saw the flames, the guards were alarmed and they doused the fire,” Kumar said.
According to welfare officers at the facility, the first escaped juvenile came back in the wee hours on Wednesday.
“At 4 am, one juvenile turned up at the observation home. Two of them were brought back by police while the rest were brought by their parents,” a welfare officer said.
Vandalism on Tuesday
On Tuesday, the juveniles had led from the correction facility after scaling a 15-feet-high wall secured by barbed wires. The violence began at 1.30 pm with a scuffle between two groups and lasted till 9.30 pm.
It is the fourth incident of inmates fleeing in the past five months.
On October 6, some 50 boys rioted inside the juvenile home in Kingsway Camp, torching the superintendent’s office and triggering blasts by setting fire to gas cylinders.
At least 33 juveniles managed to run away, but 15 were nabbed on the same day.
On August 10, the Majnu Ka Tila juvenile home saw violence followed by an incident at the Kingsway Camp home on August 28.
After the ruckus at Majnu Ka Tila on August 10, at least 10 inmates were shifted to Kingsway Camp.