Teenage gangs have become reckless. Every day somewhere gang members are causing various incidents.
There is no crime that they do not commit, including murder, robbery, extortion, kidnapping.
Juvenile criminals cannot be controlled despite multifaceted efforts of the law and order forces. Common people are afraid of them. Because at the root of these misdeeds of juvenile gang members are their so-called 'elder brothers'. Not only in the cities of the country, the members of Kishore gangs are now also active in different upazilas.
It is being said in the media that 'teenage gangs' are active all over the country. There are more than 70 juvenile gangs in Dhaka city. RAB-Police have arrested more than 200 people, including the head of local youth gangs, from July 2023 to this year. Most of the 2,232 pending cases are related to juvenile gangs. In 2023, 25 people were killed by juvenile gangs in Dhaka alone. In the two years 2022-23, 34 people died in their hands (Source: Dhaka Metropolitan Intelligence Department).
According to information from 16 police stations of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, more than two hundred youth gangs are active in Chittagong city. Each team consists of 5 to 15 people. Their membership in the city is about two thousand. 64 'elder brothers' patronize juvenile gangs. They control 45 important areas of the city. Youth gang leaders involved in groupings, clashes and murders centered on various issues including extortion, control of tenders in government offices, garment business, land grabbing, beating or cornering opponents. And the elder brothers who are said to make the group heavy are making the youth go astray. Most of them belong to lower and middle class families. Despite being a juvenile gang in name, the group also includes 20 to 32 year olds. The people of the city are holding protest rallies and human chains against the emergence of juvenile gangs, drugs and eve teasing.
Juvenile crime cases have also increased in Chittagong court. Currently 2 thousand 232 cases are under trial. Most of these cases involve juvenile gangs, prosecutors said. Rapid urbanization has destroyed the leisure environment and neighborhood of teenagers. Due to changes in family and social structures and the absence and narrowing of sports and other recreational facilities, the deficit in leisure recreation is being filled by artificial environments and modern information technology.
Parents are also very busy and do not have time to spend time with their children and some of them do not even feel the need. Now various groups are being formed through technology. Adolescents may not have the ability to understand the pros and cons of groups. A kind of frenzy operates among the rising teenagers. They are being influenced by someone else. They gather together in one place through information technology without any physical infrastructure to plan criminal activities, commit heinous crimes like murder and murder.
On the contrary, there are groups in the society, who are as young as they are, studying in some college or university, or even not studying at all; But by spending their own money, they are forming groups for various social work. They are spreading the light of education, cleaning the roads and working to protect the environment, standing next to the helpless people or saving people's lives by donating blood voluntarily. Such teenagers are also people of our society. They are admired for their differences in upbringing and upbringing, differences in family and society, and for not being associated with anything bad or taking chances.
When we look at both the good and the bad in society, it is up to us to make the bad group better. All work should be done where there is no chance of getting worse. A major factor among teenagers is their young age and lack of maturity, due to which they do not understand what is right and what is wrong. As a result, gang culture often seems like a big deal. Physical changes and accompanying changes in mental state as well as family and surrounding environment help them to associate and form groups.
Bangabandhu's daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, while delivering a speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the District Commissioner's Conference, highlighted the problem of juvenile gangs in the society and urged every family to increase vigilance over their children. He said that no one's children should get involved in juvenile gangs, militancy, terrorism and drug addiction. It is not useful to just arrest, you have to be aware. So it should be caught from the beginning. It has spread during the course of Covid-19 and has come to the fore at this time. The task of bridging this gang culture must start from the family. After the Prime Minister's call, there has been widespread awareness across the country at all levels to prevent this problem.
We need to give opportunities and encourage children and adolescents to participate in various social service activities in addition to their studies without keeping them confined at home. Parents should take such initiatives. It will inculcate the seeds of humanitarianism, compassion and empathy in the youth. Various activities including Scout Cub, Girls Guide, BNCC, Rover Scout can be made compulsory in schools, colleges and universities. It may also be made compulsory for students to engage in community service activities while awarding the degree. And if any unruly behavior is observed, action should be taken, there is no leniency in punishment.
It is not possible for the police alone to prevent it. Families must be careful with whom our children associate.
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