Bangalore’s Madiwala remand room had witnessed that 13 boys had escaped from it which was a flaw in the system of our society. All the boys were around 16 years of age. One among them was facing a murder charge sheet. Rest of them were charged for burglary and other offenses.
Nine among them had broken the toilet’s grills and escaped last month but all nine boys were captivated in just three days from the police force and returned to the remand room again. These nine boys again had escaped this time with four other boys. This time they had injured a guard and had escaped.
Once the nine boys had escaped then the authorities in the remand room were supposed to keep an eye on those boys. The security in the remand rooms are very poor. The 74 boys in the remand room should be controlled by at least 15 guards but there are only 4 guards. And also those 4 guards are working in shifts. This is the security flaw in the remand room which was easy for the boys to escape.
This is not the first time that the boys are escaping from the remand rooms. It has become a common thing these days. The boys escaped like this are caught committing other crimes again. For some boys escaping and returning to remand rooms has become a common thing. For avoiding such things, the society needs a good environment in the remand rooms. But the remand rooms are like the kennels where horses are kept.
The children should undergo counselling from reputed counselors which could help them to get some good ideas and remain away from committing antisocial activities in future. Remand rooms should be like a workshop where the children should be trained to be patient with creative activities. Recognizing there caliber and helping them to grow with those positive attitudes are to be the main motto of the remand rooms.
But the remand rooms now are disgusting. They are adverse affecting the mindset of the children kept there. Sometimes the authorities would not even let their parents to visit them. The process of getting bail will be long, lack of basic requirements for the children these reasons suffocate the children there and all these are the causes which make the children to escape from remand rooms.
From some reports it is reported that all children are kept in a single room so that the authorities can have a good surveillance. For all those children there is a single toilet.
According to JJ Act 2015 there should be proper supply of proper food, clean drinking water, medical aids and entertainment at the remand rooms for children. The act clearly says that the environment in the remand rooms should be children friendly and hygienic. But these are all like fairy tales for the children there.
Life in a remand room are worse than that of a Jail or Prison. In these conditions we cannot expect a miracle to happen and convert the mindset of the ill minded children in the society. In situations like this we need to educate our authorities and guards of the remand room to provide healthy and children friendly environment in remand rooms.
Hope for the betterment of the remand rooms in future.