Educating, rehabilitating criminals can curb petty crimes: HC

The Delhi High Court has said that rise in petty crimes can be curbed by adopting measures to educate and rehabilitate criminals who repeatedly indulge in such offences.
While upholding the life sentence awarded by a trial court to one Naresh for murdering a man to commit robbery, a bench headed by Justice Kailash Gambhir said the state should take steps to rehabilitate the criminals.
"It is high time that the state adopts some kind of measures to educate and sensitise the methods in regards to these criminals who keep indulging and repeating these crimes to earn their livelihood and also to start with some employment avenues and schemes for their proper rehabilitation so that they do not indulge or repeat such dreadful acts," the bench also comprising Justice Indermeet Kaur said.

"Tremendous increase in cases of robbery and dacoity has been noticed especially in the metropolitan cities. Robbery is considered as the easiest way to grab money, jewellery and valuable articles of others. To way lay people on deserted places, on highways and other isolated roads has become a very common practice for these criminals.
"Usually while committing offence of robbery or dacoity, these criminals end up committing more serious and horrendous offence of eliminating the victim of his life or attempting to murder such victim or causing grievous hurt," the court said while also upholding the five-year jail term to Arun alias Hanni and Sanjiv alias Sanjay for committing robbery on the Diwali night in 2007.

The court, however, acquitted Hanni and Sanjay from the charges of murder in the case.
These three accused, who were on bail, were directed by the bench to surrender immediately to serve the remaining sentence.