Failing to make ends meet, the man sneaked into a house to steal but was caught in the act.
Indore:
In a comforting gesture, Indore police in Madhya Pradesh organized a ration for the family of a man whom they arrested in the event of attempted theft.
Rohit Balai, 21, worked as a driver at Indore before the coronavirus pandemic broke out and national confinement to combat it left him unemployed. Failing to make ends meet, he sneaked into a house to steal but was caught in the act by the police.
The complainant informed the police that the lock on his tenant’s house had been broken. When the police arrived and went inside, they found Mr. Balai in the apartment and arrested him.
When the man was asked about his motives, he said that the lock-up had driven him into misery and that he had no other way to support his family.
“The accused told us that his financial situation was very bad and that his family was having trouble organizing food. He said that the municipality of Indore had once provided a free ration to his family, which was now finished, “said Aerodrum Assistant Police Inspector. Indore station, Kalpana Chauhan, said.
The man’s family members later went to the police station and had the same story to tell about their poor financial situation. Moved by their plight, the police decided to organize food packages for the family on humanitarian grounds.
However, as theft is a criminal offense, the man was charged under the relevant articles of the Indian Penal Code.
“He could have asked for help from other people instead of trying to steal,” said Chauhan.
According to estimates by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private sector think tank, 122 million Indians were forced to quit their jobs last month alone because of the lockdown in place since late March. Daily workers and those employed by small businesses were the most affected. These include other informal workers such as housekeepers, hawkers, roadside vendors, workers in the construction industry and many who make a living pushing handcarts and rickshaws – grows.
