I was not planning to blog as I was busy. But I could not do without expressing my feelings. I am enraged.
A hot news now in India, especially Delhi, is the murder of a class 8 student by his classmates in school premises. People are discussing every aspect of this sordid story in detail. School is to be blamed. Parents absconding. Must be bad parents. Where did the guys get revolver? Juvenile murderers are unrepentant. Blah! Blah! Blah! Did anyone notice that something was amiss? It caught my attention in the morning when a colleague was showing this news piece from yesterday’s newspaper to other colleague. Nothing wrong with it. But she said, “See they killed a Tyagi!” (The other colleague happens to be a Tyagi.) So did you figure out what’s wrong?
Hell, why did the police and the new channels have to name the accused kids? Why did they publicise every bit of information about them and their school identity cards was broadcast on the television? However heinous the crime, we have to concede that they are yet in teens, not adults? Why are we marking them as criminals for whole life? We are robbing them of a chance to make a decent living.
A search in news paper web sites also informs me that naming the juvenile offender in public was illegal according to Juvenile Justice Act, Article 21, Chapter 2:
No report in any newspaper, magazine, news-sheet or visual media of any inquiry regarding a juvenile in conflict with law under this Act shall disclose the name, address or school or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of the juvenile, nor shall any picture of any such juvenile be published.
What do you have to say about this?
Another news
Before finishing this post, there is another news I want to share that you might dismiss as frivolous. However, it means a lot to some. Jodie Foster has finally come out in public and admitted she is a lesbian. The gay community is delighted at being her being open about her sexuality.
Visceral Observations 
Wow, I didn’t have any clue that mentioning juvenile names was illegal. I must go and edit my post accordingly. Thanks for the info. Have a great weekend and hope you get to watch a movie soon!
I don’t mind the 2nd news either. It’s good she’s disclosed it because I don’t see any need to be afraid of one’s sexual orientation. The gay community was very happy when J.K. Rowling declared Dumbledore gay as well.
@Ish: You could not have known. And all channels were blatantly shoving information in our faces. I didn’t realize myself (even after creating criminal law programs for US) until I saw that girl telling other colleague about the surname of the victim. And then I searched for this.
Juveline law worldwide aims to protect the identity of juvenile offenders, so that they have a chance at decent adulthood. But now media channels seem to ahve marked them criminal for whole life. 😦
But you were quick to edit your post, buddy. That’s so good.
It’s a very unfortunate incident. In the US , incidents like these happen due to stupid gun laws where access to guns is ridiculously easy.. but in this case, it happened most likely due to the covert assistance provided by kid’s father..which is really sad..
I hope that this case remains one of it’s kind and doesnt lead other kids into believing that they can seek revenge by gunning bullies..
“We are robbing them of a chance to make a decent living.” as simple as that … no other comments.. well said …….
Well said..
did somebody delete my comment???
Bu hu hu
Poonam: I fully agree with you on the media hype on the murder of school boy. As your rightly said it is done by young boys who perhaps are not aware of consequences. Point to ponder is how they got hold of the gun. is is from one the houses and it was licenced one
if so the concerned parent has to take the blame for not keeping it in safe custody duly locked. if they got it from other means it is still a serious issue how they got so much money etc.,
juveline offender publicity is not right as the court and justice to be delivered taking into their age, circumstances, being first crime still there is opportunity for them to be brought back to main stream.
Right catch of news at right time. your concern for the same is very much appreciated.
it is a point to ponder for all
@lallopallo: True! Kid can do better without negative influences from media and society. Some father he must be to get his kid involved in crime as this.
@Dinsan: 😦
@Afsos: No, I did not delete your comment. Neither was it part of spam. Could you write your comment again. I would like to hear your opinion. 🙂
@praneshachar: According to latest new paper reports, it was the father who connived to get his son a gun. 😦
It was a well-planned murder… not a one-off incident… The guys knew what they were doing. I have no sympathy at all with them…
That said, even I agree media should have been more sensitive…
This whole things was hyped up by the media and I am still in wonder! It’s a shame that they named the kid and it’s a good thing you highlighted this.
Also, the media tends to hype up anything which they perceive to be of high society as they think it’s page 3 material. Kids in other not so well known schools also commit crimes but the media doesn’t report it.
@Nova, you are right, planned or unplannes, cruel or mistake, whatever their crime was, none of the media or police had the right to reveal their identity. Juvenile behavior is mostly impacted by the environment a family provides them. At this age, they are not mature to understand (long-term) consequences of their action.
By revealing their identity they have been as criminals for life. Juvenile law may delete their crime record legally, but they will never be free of criminal identity socially. You see the video tapes from TV channels are stark evidence of their crime.
@Nita: This incident has been touted as first school killing in India. (in the school, by the school kid and for a school kid). I am aware feudal killing happen in some sates in schools but they are never reported. DO you have more examples of school killings that go unreported?
In fact just a day or two after this incident there was an incident of a boy being blinded in school by his classmate. But it was not highlighted and I could not find it on the net. this is certainly not the first killing in a school. But it’s likely to be an unique incident in the sense of the use of the gun and the elite school.
that was nice of you to have sensitized everybody about the confidentiality aspect of the horrific event. i have tried to give a psychological reason why bullying takes place in the first place. if any body is interested they can read the post “school shoot out in india” in my blog http://empoweringall.wordpress.com
sorry, i do not know how to provide a link to that post here in the comment section.
Today an incident was reported in murshidabad about a boy stabbing a girl in school because she spurned his proposal. Looks like the media has realised that not just upperclass school kids are violent in school!
@Nita: Me and my friend were discussing this before your comment. My friend, as touted by news, believed this was first incident of murder in school. I had heard such news before, but when I searched could not find anything concrete. 😦 So when you commented, I asked you about it.
A boy killing girl as she turned down offer is also v common. In colleges too. I remember reading a barbaric incident when a guy burnt first-year girl alive while she was appearing for her exam just because she had turned him down. 😦
@Latha: I read your post about counselling and commented. Counselling is important as bullying can be silent and yet corrosive of impressionable minds.
thanks, poonam, for the visit.
in india, the spurned lover bullying his unagreeable girlfriend cases are many. most horrific are the acid attacks on the girl’s face and disfiguring her for life! judges should be merciless in such cases and award life sentence, at the least. but we have seen how even these cases are let out on bail for number of years! very pathetic!
@Lata. yuo are welcome! You have a nice going, purposeful blog too! 🙂
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