Five juveniles flee correction home

PUNE: Five boys from Jawaharlal Nehru Udyog Kendra, a state-run juvenile correction home in Yerawada, scaled its 20-ft compound wall on Tuesday night, jumped to the ground on the other side and escaped. They have not been traced, so far.
All five, now between 16 and 18 years of age, are allegedly involved in violent crimes like murder and other serious crimes like robbery, theft and molestation.
Another minor, who was with them, twisted his foot when he landed on the ground and could not flee. He was taken to Sassoon General Hospital. “He has sustained minor injuries,” said superintendent Sharad Kurhade. All six had come to the correction home this year, he added.
It is the third such fleeing incident this year. Tuesday was the weekly parents’ meeting and the parents of three boys had visited the home.
“On Wednesday, cases of two of the five minors were going to be heard and they could have been released on bail,” Kurhade said.
The authorities have registered a missing persons’ complaint with the Yerawada police station. Vilas Sonde, inspector of the Yerawada police station, said a police team has begun their investigations. “We have alerted police stations in the city where these boys have homes,” Sonde said.
At 11.30pm on Tuesday, the caretakers took the six minors from their barracks to help them fill drinking water. “We do not have a water connection inside the barracks. We have to fill drinking water from a tap on the premises where the supply begins after 10pm every day,” Kurhade said.
After filling up, the group was about to go back, when the six boys sprinted towards the wall at the back of the home.
“They went near the unused school building on the premises, reached a window and used it to climb to the tin sheet roof. They stood on the compound wall and jumped to the other side,” Kurhade said.
The caretakers chased the boys, but before they could reach them, all six had jumped outside the premises, Kurhade added. Both caretakers rushed out and ran towards the spot from where the boys had fled.
“In the dark, they heard one of them calling out to the others. He had twisted his leg when he jumped from the wall . He told the caretakers that the rest had fled towards the golf links in Yerawada,” Kurhade said.
Kurhade said the caretakers alerted him and then began the search for the boys in Yerawada area. They also checked bus stands and the Pune railway station. “When the boys could not be traced, I informed the Pune police control room,” Kurhade said.
Another officer from the correction home told TOI that the Yerawada police team arrived on Wednesday morning.