Children from privileged families engage in petrol theft, Know Why

We are generally of the opinion that kids coming from the less privileged background are majorly considered the doers of bad deeds, which could be anything from petty theft to big-time unlawful activities.

But that is not always the case. Sometimes even the kids from high class families or the more obedient and studious kids usually know they’re not supposed to take something without paying, but they might do so anyway because they lack enough self-control. There are quite a few complex reasons why they do it, perhaps due to their anger, or their sense of helplessness during studies and career, or they simply need attention.

‘Kleptomania’ is one of the syndrome’s that is found to be very common among children as they grow older which tend to become more and more complex as they grow up. It is observed in adolescents that the desire to impress their peers with the task of stealing which they consider heroic. Some of them use stealing as a way to declare their independence from the world of adult authority. Or they may also steal out of a sense of boredom and a desire to seek excitement. Also, they may feel that, along with other negative behaviours, is the only way to get attention from parents. Lastly, they may steal for practical reasons, such as the desire to possess a particular item they want, but cannot afford.

Vadodara being widely populated by tender-young crowd, has several incidences of petty stealing by them. The students of the renowned medical college in the city once complained that the petrol from their vehicles was getting lesser day by day. On further investigation of the case, it came to the light that the fuel was being stolen by kids who were from a moderately elite background. To their surprise, it was unbelievable for them that they would ever be involved in such activities, as earlier they had anticipated kids from surrounding slum background may have been doing it. The backlash by the kids’ parents was enraging. It’s obvious they won’t believe a word against their children.

Petrol theft is quite common among the teenagers. In another incidence, it was observed that an adolescent had been stealing petrol from vehicles of the society. And the society was noted to be quite fancy and people living there were even financially sound, hence he had a life of privilege. The residents observed their fuel tanks were getting devoid of petrol and in order to catch the thief, they installed CCTV cameras. They were taken aback to see an adolescent commit the theft who was a resident of the same society.

The issue is not just about fuel thievery but also about a lot many instances where they had been engaged in such wrong activities.  They’re trying to fill the void, may be because they’re sad, lost or depressed.

There’s a general stigma with stealing, especially from kids who belong from low-income strata. They’re easily believed to be culprits of crimes. But this is more than just a bad behavior from bad kids. We believe that mental health of kids from all the status of life should be given equal importance.