While the city police had so far been focused on fighting crimes against children, cops have now turned their attention to the other side of the coin — children who have chosen a life of crime themselves. With the city witnessing an alarming rise in the number of juvenile criminals, city police commissioner Satish Mathur announced special squads —titled Bal Sena — in every police station to tackle the issue.

That juvenile crime is a growing menace is clear from the statistics from the Social Security Cell, which revealed that in the past ten months alone, 411 children under the age of 18 had been detained for various offences. Pic/Thinkstock

During the announcement, the police not only released the latest figures for juvenile crime in the city, but also revealed the startling motives that these young culprits often had. In a majority of cases, cops said they had observed that kids were inspired by Bollywood and Marathi movies, as well as crime serials and media coverage on television. The other motives most commonly seen were the desire for easy money, and sometimes, plain curiosity.

That this is a growing menace is clear from the statistics from the Social Security Cell, which revealed that in the past ten months alone, 411 children under 18 had been detained for various crimes, a stark rise when compared to the 367 who were held through 2013.