A generation adrift: Why are young people in India taking to crime?

Are we producing a young generation of lost people? Not only have our youth registered a sharp increase in heinous crimes, which include gang rape and murder, but we now find that more and more of them are retreating into their private world with little empathy for those around them.

In Meerut, a 17-year-old boy bludgeoned his best friend to death for blackmailing his girlfriend with personal photographs. In Gorakhpur, another 17-year-old student of Class 12 killed his mother in a fit of rage and then lived with a neighbour for three days, deceiving his father, a scientist working at the Bhabha Atomic Centre in South India, claiming the mother was not picking up the phone because she was busy with household chores. Similarly, in New Delhi, three teenagers killed a 55-year-old medical practitioner over a petty billing dispute.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking case was in an elite New Delhi school, where a 12-year-old strangled a fellow student, Prince, simply because of a shoulder bump. CCTV footage revealed how the minor escalated the conflict into a fatal act of violence. This young boy has now been arrested for culpable homicide by the Delhi police and will likely end up in a juvenile reform facility.

Juvenile crimes between 2010 and 2014 rose by 47 per cent, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Over the last decade, the rise has been even starker—60 per cent. Delhi recorded the highest number of crimes committed by minors. Meanwhile, the amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which allows trying 16- to 18-year-olds as adults, appears to have had a deterrent effect. 

Practically every second day, an incident of heinous teen violence is being reported in the press. Several studies show this is more than just a passing phase of a generation in angst. A 2023 study of 463 Indian school students in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care found aggressive traits in over half these students.

Daily, police control rooms in Delhi receive at least 20 calls about student brawls, both in and around schools. While student brawls are common, incidents of students attacking teachers are becoming more frequent. In one instance, a Class 12 student stabbed a teacher after being reprimanded for not wearing his uniform. Another teacher was assaulted by a student’s relative after the child failed an exam. Such violence prompted the Directorate of Education to mandate the expulsion of students who physically attack teachers.

Educationists question whether children in India have lost their moral compass. Several urge the government to reintroduce moral education in our school system. Another growing issue is the lack of healthy communication skills. When his mother harshly turned down his demand for a mobile phone of his own, a 12-year-old Delhi student threw a glass bowl at her. During the course of being counselled, the boy confessed he wanted to speak privately to a friend who was sick. Unable to express this, he had vented his emotion through violence.

Ramni Chopra, a principal of a kindergarten school in Delhi, is aghast at how children as young as four are being given unlimited access to smartphones, impairing their emotional and cognitive development. Rajesh Kumar, who runs a counselling and a de-addiction centre in Delhi, blames this lack of communication on the extensive use of smartphones, with both parents and their children living in a virtual world, leaving children with little or no social interaction.

Disappearing play spaces. especially in urban areas, limit opportunities for children to release energy and develop interpersonal skills.

Chanchal Kumar, a Delhi-based counsellor, highlights the impact of nuclear families and absentee parenting. Without sufficient emotional support at home, children often turn to peers, some of whom introduce them to harmful habits like smoking or drugs. 

Does unlimited access to smartphones give rise to aggressive behaviour? It is a contentious issue. Psychologists argue that video games are more harmful as they normalise violence through interactive immersive experiences, unlike television.

Dr Vivek Benegal, professor of psychiatry at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, notes that post-Covid this problem has increased exponentially. “Why are children so angry, so scared, and so depressed? The current trend of helicopter parenting has increased stress levels among children. We find that air pollution and increasing levels of arsenic in water across all rivers emanating from the Himalayas adversely affect brain development. Stress causes inflammation and also adversely affects brain development,” says Benegal.

Benegal maintains that access to social media with its false messaging amplifies anxiety in children. Parents must understand the psychological impact of excessive screen exposure. 

Solutions exist. A 2023 study in the Journal of Education and Health Promotion found that anger management classes for 128 Indian school students resulted in improved negotiation skills and a lowering of anger levels. While some schools have begun teaching social values, there is a growing need for focussed interventions in anger management and emotional regulation. 

(The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist)