A day after two minor girls were detained for allegedly killing their 2-year-old brother, police revealed shocking details about how the two accused hatched a plan by watching crime shows on TV and misled police by concocting stories.

The two minor girls were apprehended on Monday in Jawalapur area of Haridwar for allegedly sedating and killing their 2-year-old brother by drowning him in Ganga in the wee hours of November 29. They were apprehended during the investigation of a complaint lodged by the boy’s parents about him going missing.

One of the girls, aged 14, was his elder sister while the other aged 13 was his cousin sister. The elder sister, who was the main accused, was annoyed at taking care of him after their parents left for work.

“After the two sisters confessed to the crime during their questioning by police, the boy’s elder sister said she apparently planned to kill him after watching a crime show on TV. She said she watched its episodes during her visit to her grandmother’s house in summer vacations,” said Yogesh Singh Dev, station house officer, Jawalapur police station.

After the summer vacations were over, she stopped going to school and stayed at home. Seeing that, her parents who both work, asked her to take care of her toddler brother.

“It enraged her and got her annoyed that she had to take care of him. She then started thinking about how to eliminate him. It was then that she remembered an episode along with another similar incident in early November in Haridwar only in which a woman killed her infant son by drowning him in Ganga river. She thought this is the easiest way to kill her brother,” said Dev.

The girl then informed her cousin sister about her plan and involved her in it. The two attempted to kill him two days before the incident on November 29.

“The two tried to pick him up from mother’s side early in the morning but failed as he was not asleep fully. They then decided to first sedate him before putting him in a bag to drown him in Ganga,” said the police officer.

As per the plan, the accused cousin sister arranged some sleeping pills from her brother’s medicines. The two then mixed it in the boy’s milk and fed him on the night of November 28.

“They both waited for him to go unconscious while waking up the whole night. When he did, at around 5 am, they picked him up from bed while all the other family members were asleep. They then put him in a bag and carried it on a bicycle towards Ganga about 800m away from their house to drown him. They returned after 20 minutes while acting normal,” said Dev.

Initially after the family members came to know that the boy is missing, the elder sister tried to mislead police by pointing towards her aunt (wife of her father’s elder brother).

“She tried to take advantage of the fact that her aunt was not in good terms with her mother. She concocted a story about two months ago, she threatened to kill her brother and frame her in the murder. Based on the story, her mother had lodged a complaint naming her it. However, police didn’t do anything against her in the probe but the two girls,” said Dev adding, “Police are yet to find the body of the boy.”

28% rise in crimes committed by juveniles in state

The state witnessed a rise of about 28% rise in the cases of crimes committed by juveniles in 2017 against 2016 as per the latest report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 2017. In 2016, the state witnessed total 124 cases which rose to 159 in 2017.

As per the data, Uttarakhand was at third spot among the Himalayan states after Jammu & Kashmir with 187 cases and Himachal Pradesh with 184 cases.

The data further stated that out of the total 159 crimes committed by juveniles, three were murders, five attempt to murder and seven rapes among the heinous crimes. The other crimes included 56 cases of theft, 27 of burglary, 14 of robbery and three of kidnapping.

Lack of parenting leading to crimes by juveniles, expert

Speaking on the rise of crimes committed and the Haridwar incident, Dehradun based psychologist and CBSE counsellor, Dr Sona Kaushal blamed lack of proper parenting for it.

“Today, the major problem is the lack of proper parenting in every family irrespective of which income group they belong to. Parents don’t give enough time to their children but just shout or yell at their mistakes which is making the scenario much worse,” she said.

She also blamed the easy access internet and other forms of entertainment which usually “glamourises crime in the movies and V shows.”

“Like in this case where the girls were somewhat influenced by a crimes based TV show, many children watch such shows and movies. They just do what they watch without thinking rationally. It is the duty of the parents to sit with them lovingly and make them understand the reality so as to avoid such incidents. Unfortunately it rarely happens,” she said.

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