46 juveniles escape from remand home in Bangalore

In a major security lapse, a total of 46 children made good their escape from the Juvenile Remand Home in Bangalore on Sunday evening.

Police said the juvenile delinquents who escaped from the Remand Home situated at Madivala in Bangalore were below 16 years of age and were facing charges ranging from rape, murder and robbery.

The children had escaped from a hole they had dug in one of the bathrooms by removing the hollow blocks. After sneaking out of the hole, the children scaled a tree and jumped across the tall compound walls of the Remand Home to freedom.

The hole was apparently made over the last several days and kept covered by old clothes so that the authorities do not smell a rat.

The Remand Home authorities discovered the escape of the juveniles when they carried out a head-count late on Sunday evening. Apparently, all the 71 inmates were kept in a large room after serving them lunch. When one of the guards went inside in the evening, he found a large number of children missing. A head count showed that as many as 46 children were missing.

The police was immediately informed and a message was flashed across the City to trace the escapees. Police wireless sets began crackling with the message asking police personnel to look out for the escaped juveniles, who were wearing white shirts and grey shorts with roll numbers.

The City police swung into action and managed to catch six of them late on Sunday night and bring them back to the Remand Home. Out of the six, who were caught, four of them were found loitering near Forum Mall in Koramangala a few kilometers away from the Remand Home. One of them had returned home, but was brought back to the Remand Home by his brother.

But, forty children are still at large. Bangalore City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyuta Rao told reporters that the Railway Station and Bus stands in Bangalore had been kept on high alert.

The escape of the juvenile delinquents has exposed the glaring loopholes in the security system at the Remand Home, which is managed by the State Government’s Department for Women and Child Welfare.

At the time of the escape on Sunday evening, the Remand Home was guarded by just one private security guard, besides two staff members, instead of the mandatory seven security personnel at any given time. Even the Superintendent of the Remand Home Kamalamma was away on official duty at the time of the incident.

The Government has ordered an inquiry into the escapade and the Director of Women and Child Welfare Department has been asked to submit a report. Sunday evening’s escape is the third such incident reported from the Remand Home in Madiwala during the last one year. During December 2005, a total of 18 inmates had escaped after hitting the security guard. Only five of them had been traced so far.