Explainer: What's driving rising aggression and violence among children in India?

Detailed summary

Impulse control is not fully developed until early adulthood; what is definitely needed is a strict check on individuals who misuse, manipulate, or lure juveniles into crime ...

A recent incident involving an eight-year-old boy attacking a six-year-old girl at their school has sparked widespread concern across India, highlighting the scourge of children's exposure to violence and the growing challenges of addressing aggressive behaviour at a young age.

The boy, a Grade 3 student at a government-run school, had brutally attacked the girl from the same school in Panchkula in the northern Indian state of Haryana last month.

The brutal attack, which involved the boy repeatedly banging the child’s head against a desk and then throwing a flower pot at her head before kicking her as she lay on the floor, was recorded on a CCTV camera.

The boy, whose identity is protected under legal safeguards governing juveniles, had lured the girl into an empty classroom by falsely telling her that her father had come to meet her before launching the attack.

He later led the teachers and the girl’s parents to the classroom, where she was found unconscious after school hours. She was admitted to a hospital. A video of her walking out of the hospital amid cheers went viral on social media last week.

The boy was sent to an observation home but was later released. He is undergoing psychological evaluation to determine the cause of his violent outburst.

But the incident has created a sense of panic among parents of young children, who say they feel anxious about the safety of their kids even in school.

“It was a shocking incident; the details were horrifying. I couldn’t stop thinking about the safety of my children. My son is as old as that girl,” Sanchi Yadav, mother of a 10-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, told Khaleej Times.

“The kind of brutality and aggression is unimaginable. But we know that kids are watching aggressive videos and becoming impatient and intolerant,” Yadav said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Khaleej Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.