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Old wine in a new bottle
 Last week Chief Minister Jayalithaa inaugurated the 117 Police Boys Club at Chennai. The aim of these Police Boys Clubs is to inculcate good values in children living in slums and backward areas and chanelling their energies in a constructive manner. The Chief Minister also announced that a scout master would be appointed for each club and each club would consist of 100 children. The club would impart education besides providing sports and literary facilities. The local police inspector would be the coordinator.
The Police Boys Clubs are not a new phenomenon and several such clubs were formed in yesteryears which remained non-functional for most of the years. While forming the new clubs, the government as well as the police should analyse the reasons for their failure in the past and should take appropriate remedial measures for its effective functioning in future.
Any good scheme would become ineffective if it was not planned well. The participation of service organisations like Rotary Club, Lions Club and Round Table Organisation would definitely contribute towards its effective functioning. The appointment of the local police inspector as the coordinator of the clubs would raise reasonable doubts about its efficient functioning. Can a local police inspector who is involved in his duties concentrate on and coordinate the scheme properly? This is indeed a serious question.
The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 enacted recently has insisted upon the operation of a Juvenile Police Unit in every district headquarters to deal exclusively with the problem of juvenile delinquency. Even though three years have elapsed after the introduction of the Act, such a separate unit dealing with juvenile delinquency alone has not been formed in the state. The formation of such a police unit is very much essential to deal with such matters and coordinating the activities of the club should be entrusted to such an unit on a full time basis, instead of imposing the burden of coordinating the club on a local inspector who is already overburdened with his responsibilities.
Secondly the purpose of the formation of the Police Boys Clubs is to inculcate good values among the children. But with the exception of a very few, policemen in India were never very good role models to anyone, as most of them are corrupt, harsh in their behaviour and very weak in public relations. so naturally, entrusting the responsibility of coordinating the Police Boys Club to a policeman may not be a very good idea.
While forming the Juvenile Police Unit, women officers should be entrusted with the job and they should be appointed to perform the task of coordinating the Police Boys Clubs. Some police women may also be utilised for this function on a full time basis for its efficient functioning.
Harvey
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