School boys caught stealing to eat Chinese

It’s distressing, but true. Two school children have been caught stealing purses to pay for their penchant for Chinese food and clothes.

The boys, both 12 years old, were nabbed by railway policewomen in the first class ladies compartment around noon on Tuesday. The two are studying in class seven at a Hindi medium school in Vikhroli and belong to middle-class families, a Kurla railway police official said.

“The children live in Bhandup, where they would board the train and travel up to Ghatkopar in the morning peak hours,” the official said. “Dressed in uniforms, they would mingle among the crowd in the compartment and pick mobile phones and purses of unsuspecting women travellers.”

On Tuesday, two railway women constables in civil clothes, travelling in the compartment, spotted one of the boys stealing a mobile from a woman’s bag and caught him and his schoolmate.
On checking their bags, the police found two mobile phones and Rs4,500 in cash that they admitted they had stolen. The official said that the boys said they used the money to buy clothes and Chinese food. The children said they had been indulging in this for about three months.

The parents of the boys have been informed about the matter. The two have been kept at the Dongri observation home.