At 17, Ajmal became a criminal. When his associate cheated him of his money, Ajmal saw red and thrashed him soundly. From that to being part of an extortion gang was but a small step.
He was even arrested a couple of times. Initially, the police used to be very harsh on him but later, they realized he really didn’t want to be part of any gang and wanted to lead a normal life.
Ten years down the line, Ajmal now works in a garage and repairs even defence vehicles. He’s married and the proud father of a child and dreams of opening his own garage one of these days. He was just one of the 300 participants at the mind-diversion camps on Monday, for those involved in criminal activities in the city. It was organized by the East division police and there were counsellors from the criminology and psychology departments of Bangalore University, as well as Vasanti Vijay from the sociology department, Somashekhar from
the NGO Echo and representatives from the Art of Living.
“This is the first step we have taken towards reforming them. There has been group counselling for these criminals and we have to find whether they’re receptive to it. When we find someone responding positively, Echo and the Art of Living will help them in rehabilitation — that’s the objective,’’ DCP (East) M Chandrashekhar said.
ACP KR Puram N Narasimhaiah, who organized the event, said the response was beyond expectations. “I didn’t expect such a good turnout. Through the session, I felt that participants were reacting positively,’’ he added.
Somashekhar of Echo said the police were making efforts to reform the criminals. “It’s a great step, but just a beginning. It should be a continuous process,’’ he said.
There were many criminals, especially young offenders, who were trying to find a way out. “They really want to understand this change and give it a try. But counselling should be a continuous process,’’ Somashekhar added.
Like Ajmal, Praveen is someone who broke free from the vicious cycle of crime. He’d been under police surveillance for a long time and was fed up of his criminal life. He attended a camp at Art of Living and now works with an NGO in his area. On Monday, Praveen was part of the team counselling young offenders.
Courtesy: Times of India,
No comments:
Post a Comment