For the angry and young, might is in

As the youth watching recreational facilities like open grounds being snared by clubs and hotels, the might is right’ philosophy is gaining ground.

“More and more hospitals and schools run by the BMC are being closed or privatised, reducing accessibility to health and education. Frustration coupled with unemployment ultimately leads toviolence,” said Dr Shetty, adding that the period following the closure of textile mills in the city some years ago witnessed a spiralling rise in crime. “Even in movies, the villain’ has transformed into the anti-hero’ who bulldozes his way into the system.”

Dr Shetty pointed out that parents back the entry of their children into crime. “Among the higher strata of society, it has been found that unlimited access to liquid disposable cash makes children very aggressive,” he said. “More and more parents ask me if they should teach their children to manipulate and hit back. They don’t realise that it is their responsibility to instill values in children. The outside world automatically makes them street smart”.

Accusing politicians of triggering violence, Dr Shetty also came down heavily on educationists for concealing facts and denying acts of violence on their campuses in order to maintain a clean image. Stressing the need for professional counselling of the youth in schools and colleges, hesaid, “Collective response to violence is imperative. Bullies have to be confronted. When the BCCI office was ransacked, why couldn’t the youth lead a protest march to Thackeray’s house and tell him that he was wrong? Indifference will only aggravate violence.’

‘Dr Asha Bajpai, also from TISS, spoke on the contradictions within the law on the issue. While the minimum marriageable age for boys and girls is 21 and 18 respectively, the Juvenile Justice Act is applicable to boys below 18 and girls below 20, she pointed out. She added that there was no legal definition of youth’ under the law. “The age group has not been identified yet. The United Nations says youth comprise those between the ages of 15 to 24 years. A youth policy under consideration by the Indian Government at present is planning to target people between 13 to 35 years,” she revealed.

Dr Bajpai also pointed out that sexual harassment on the campus is also a form of violence, adding that she had came across several students who werewilling to reveal names of their professors who had harassed them only after leaving college so that it wouldn’t affect their marks.

Former Mumbai police commissioner Satish Sahney blamed archaic laws for ineffective law enforcement. “Only a First Information Report is admissible in the court of law. The law still operates to the disadvantage of the prosecution with statements recorded by the police during investigation holding no value during trial”. Fifty per cent of the police force was involved in non-police work like bandobast for VIP movements, he said, calling for setting up of more courts for quick disposal of cases.

Other speakers included Justice B Lentin, former judge of the Bombay High Court and Dr Kalindi Muzumdar, former vice-principal, Nirmala Niketan.