India is perhaps the only country in the world which has the dubious distinction of having maximum number of laws to regulate the conduct of society. It is the only country where almost all aspects of human behavior i.e. behavior with human beings, behavior with animals (both domestic & wild) with nature & environment etc. all are sought to be governed by laws rather than through education or innate enlightenment which is the preserve of every egalitarian society. Should we study or not? Should we know something or not? Are prescribed by laws such as right to education, right to information etc. We even have framed laws for such a subtle issue as to how should we respect our aged parents and what consequences would befall on us on default. Thus there is a plethora of laws on virtually all subjects/aspects of human behavior.

It is difficult to say if this state of affairs is symptomatic of a healthy state of our society or an ailing state needing urgent treatment. In common parlance a person dependent on a huge cache of medicines is assumed to be ill or not keeping good health and not a healthy being. Though totaling ruling out the use/consumption of medicines ever in one’s life is also utopian wishful thinking defying logic , excess of anything however good is equally bad. This way we are not being educated in real sense but domesticated like animals which definitely is not a good sign of a progressive society.

But what is dismaying is that in spite of a galore of laws created (nigh manufactured) at every bout of sneeze to regulate the conduct of people, the social scenario of our country is far from being heart warming or satisfactory.  There has been a spiraling rise in crimes in our country which is symptomatic of our social decadence rather than betterment.

While this general decadence is a disturbing phenomenon engaging attention of the whole nation, the recent spurt in cases of so called Juvenile delinquency has however rung ALARM BELLS in our society and needs to be addressed to with desired urgency and promptitude.

We follow the dictum “CHILDREN OF TODAY ARE LEADERS OF TOMORROW” and love them and try to provide full facilities for their growth and development accordingly. But paradoxically enough, the more we care for them the more we suffer despondency and despair. Of late there has been an alarming engagement in the sphere of delinquency of children. From minor acts of abuse, fights, theft etc they have now graduated to commit as heinous and serious crimes as Rape, Robbery, and Murder, which suggests there is something radically wrong with our socio-legal dynamics.

It is not that this trend of extra ordinary behavior among children pertains to delinquent acts only. In fact children below 12 yrs of age have done us proud in other areas of activities with a display of rare talent and genius. They have performed in many reality shows of Dance, Music, Drama, Acting etc. They have performed excellently well in certain good films and have been putting up good show in academics and sports as well. So it could not be said that has been a down slide(unilateral) only in their behaviour, but the over all picture that emerges now before us suggests in unequivocal terms that there has definitely been some perceptible change in the behaviour of our youth both ways which indeed is beyond our comprehension. There may be a myriad causes and reasons for this changing trend. The blitz raging impact of cinema and T.V may be one of the prominent reasons influencing the minds of our children. The constraints of both the parents in job not being able to pay adequate attention to their children or the company of their peers etc. There may be a host of other causes and reasons for such a change but this is clear that the COGNITIVE ability and facility of present day children has tremendously changed and the standard of reckoning their CHILDHOOD as we perceived it earlier needs to be thoroughly revised in sync with the changing trends.

In this fast changing world where development of science and technology keeps us on the run with rapidly occurring incredible changes that affect our life styles, we can’t remain contented/being confined in a straitjacketed idealist frame of laws which have no bearing on the present day situation. We have to be pragmatic and realistic rather than bigoted with a kind of idealism that hardly works now.

Some working parents who can’t afford time to spend with their children, suffer from a sense of guilt for not being able to discharge their parental obligations properly tend to shower their love and affection on their children in a highly  lopsided, absurd manner which tantamount to pampering their children. They   fulfill all their demands when the children become cranky. This allows the children to learn the ropes of exploitation, blackmailing, cheating etc at home and cultivate this even as they grow up. In this way the children become spoiled ones and go wayward. They lose respect for rules & regulations and become an undisciplined lot which poses a threat to the egalitarian society. Therefore too much of leniency shown to the children by ignoring their acts of malfeasance often breeds waywardness among children and gives rise to acts of delinquency which are dangerous to the safety & security of our society. So leniency could be the other cause of delinquency and we have to be careful in conducting with the behavior of our children. It however doesn’t mean that they should be asked to walk a tight rope and there no scope left for them to use their free will. In fact too much restrictions also play spoil sport and we have to guard against this as this also is a counter productive approach.

In nut shell we may conclude that we have to take a serious view of the changing trends of behavior among our children which has virtually made AGE as too redundant and irrelevant factor determining who actually is a JUVINILE in real sense and who is not and tailor out a socio-legal plan to govern their conduct in such a way that they get full opportunity to develop their faculties without losing the bliss of their childhood such as innocence, naughtiness, playfulness, which are the basic attributes of childhood and ultimately turnout to be good human beings. Then only we could proudly say our children are assets of our nation on whom we can stake our bright future otherwise they would become a liability to not only the parents but to the whole society.

It is therefore high time that social scientists and legal jurists paid heed to this fast emerging phenomenon and revisited our acts such as JUVINILE JUSTICE ACT etc by making amendments accordingly or else we would ourselves be responsible for spoiling our children and bringing society to dogs.