Minor girl’s gumption during raid & inquiry impresses senior cop

CHENNAI: It isn’t often that cops have nice things to say about a criminal, especially when they fit a stereotype. While enquiring about arrests in a theft case, this reporter was surprised to hear the assistant commissioner praising one of the suspects, a minor girl.

She was 16, dressed like a boy and tattooed. “A bold girl. Had she directed her boldness and positive qualities in the right way, she would have become an IAS officer,” said ACP Charles about the girl.

Last week, his team arrested a gang that had gone on a cell-phone snatching spree in the city. The girl seemed unperturbed by cops apprehending or questioning her. When a few concerned officials asked her whether she needed any help after her release from the juvenile home, she asked them to reunite her with family.

She comes from a broken family. Police enquiries revealed that her mother left the family when she was a kid. Her father is a platform dweller.

The 16-year-old girl, who dropped out of school, earned her living as a tattoo artist, and fell into bad company along the way.

Realising that the police were trying to help her, she told them casually, “Get me a job, I won’t steal.”