At around 1.30 am on Sunday that 15 juveniles in Hyderabad escaped from a rehabilitation home in the city's Saidabad area.
CCTV footage of the incident shows at least 11 minors in the wee hours of midnight, walking in the street after escaping from the home.
As they are cautiously looking around and walking, one minor can be seen attempting to hot wire a two-wheeler.
He then approaches another minor for help following which the duo manages to pull out the bike from the parking spot, kick start it and drive it away. The entire dramatic incident was caught on camera.
Watch the video below.
All the boys were aged between 14 and 16 and the police suspect that they escaped by cutting the rods of a bathroom ventilator with a blade and later scaled the compound wall.
One minor was nabbed by the police as he was trying to escape alone. Three others were caught on Monday.
Larger issues
The institute is also no stranger to such kind of controversy.
According to child rights activist Achyuta Rao of the Balala Hakkula Sangham (BHS), a minor was sodomised and murdered by his roommates at the same home in 2015.
"Another case of sodomy had also surfaced after that, which involved a resident of the home allegedly being assaulted by a Child Welfare Committee member as he was being shifted to another home," Achyuta said.
"Firstly, it is a correctional home and the children are not hardened criminals. They should be considered as minors in conflict with the law. It should only serve as a transit point," he added.
Achyuta also points out that there are provisions under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act which mandates that the home should apply for bail with the magistrate, which should be heard as soon as possible.
"Since the judiciary has a system in place, it can't do anything if there are errors on the home's part in filing the petition," the activist says.
"The child should get a good support system over here and the environment should be better than the one outside. There is also no full-time psychologist appointed for the children and the place also lacks a complaint box, where children can directly send in their letters to higher officials," he adds.
Speaking to TNM, in-charge Director for Juvenile Welfare and Correctional Services, B Shailaja said that additional security measures were put into place after the incident.
"We have shifted children from the observation home to larger premises in a special home nearby. The first home had gotten cramped as there were more children and lesser rooms," she said.
Shailaja also said that the observation home, which was now empty of children, would be transformed into a drug rehabilitation facility for minors in the next 15 days.
"A lot of children are addicted to drugs like whiteners and we want to reform them. An inquiry was also conducted into the incident and two night supervisors and the superintendent of the home were suspended," she added.