Five inmates flee juvenile home in Kishanganj, one caught

Five inmates of a state-run juvenile home in Kishanganj district of Bihar made an escape early Saturday morning but one of them was caught hours later while four others are still at large, officials said.

“During search operations, the Kishanganj police found the boys in an auto-rickshaw on national highway 31 at Kanki in Northern Dinajpur district of West Bengal, which is located on Kishanganj border. When the auto-rickshaw was stopped, the boys got out and tried to run away. But the police team chased and captured one of them. Four others managed to escape ,” Amitabh Kumar, subdivisional officer of Kishanganj, said.

The juvenile home was started in April this year and houses 42 inmates found in conflict with law, including those serving their sentences and undergoing trial.

Of the five who fled, three are from Muzaffarpur and two are from Madhepura.

The building is secured with a high boundary wall and security guards and close circuit cameras are also installed there.

Officials said they learnt of their escape when five boys were not seen on the premises on Saturday.

Ravi Shankar Tiwari, assistant director, child protection unit, Kishanganj, said, “Since the beginning of their stay here in April, these five boys have been creating nuisance here and disturbing others. But nobody imagined they would escape by damaging the ventilator glass of the washroom. The boundary wall of the building is very high.”

The CCTV camears are only in the front side of the building while the boys escaped from backside, he said.

Police stations across the state have been put on alert, Tiwari said. “They have also been provided with pictures of these boys. Families of the boys have also been informed about the incident,” he said.