Sunderbans robbers surrender
Two Sunderbans-based robber gangs, which had been robbing fishermen and honey collectors and kidnapping them for ransom for the last couple of years, have laid down their arms and surrendered to the home minister. This is a welcome move, and follows the surrender of another gang in May this year. Good sense has prevailed on these outlaws and it should now be the responsibility of the government to make it easy for them to be rehabilitated in the society.
The change of heart of the bandits and the accommodation of the authorities is an improvement on the existing 'strategy' to deal with the outlaws in the area which saw about 167 robbers killed in gunfights with Rab personnel in the last five years. Rehabilitation is extremely important because criminal recidivism is not uncommon in the region. In the mid nineties, the laudable initiative by the then-government to absorb some members of the Shorbohara party into a paramilitary force, met with some success but some from amongst them had gone back to their old profession.
Once a criminal, always a criminal is an outdated attitude. They deserve a second chance to become contributing members of the society. Among other things they require counseling on how to lead honest lives. Then they should be provided with training and capital enabling them to start their own business or find meaningful employment. Such steps will work as a counterforce to the tendency and pull to lure them back to their criminal behaviour.
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