Migration cannot be stopped, nor should it be. But it should definitely be regulated based on the social and economic conditions...

Editorial: The occurrence of five murders within three days in the Union Territory Chandigarh and its surrounding areas is a concerning matter. Out of these, three murders took place during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. From the perspective of police arrangements, Chandigarh should be the most secure territory. Here, the number of police personnel is significantly higher in proportion than in Punjab and Haryana. There are also arrangements for day-and-night police patrolling and vigilance. At night, PCR vans are visible in every sector.

Despite such arrangements, the occurrence of two murders during one night in this territory is a matter of serious concern. Among the murders in Chandigarh, one happened in Ram Darbar and the other in Maloya. The third murder case was registered in Sector 26, Panchkula. In all three murder cases, both the victims and the attackers were young. The murders also happened over seemingly trivial reasons. From this, the same reality is revealed — that the fear of law is gradually disappearing from people’s minds, especially among the youth.

The deceased from Ram Darbar, Raman Chadha, was said to be around 22 years old. The attackers were also his age. Similarly, the deceased in the Maloya case, Daya, was merely 18 years old. The group that killed him was also of young boys. Eighteen hours before these two murders, Sanjeev, 19 years old, became a victim of a stabbing in Chandigarh. This murder occurred near Indira Colony. The youth arrested in this murder case is also a young boy.

Just like such incidents in Chandigarh, in Panchkula too, the young man who became a victim of stabbing — Roshan — was merely 21 years old. The accused in this murder case is reported to be 19 years old. From all these details, it is clear how rapidly the criminal mindset is overpowering the new generation.

So far this year, 15 murder cases have been registered in Chandigarh. Out of these, 12 murders were due to stabbing. Two deaths occurred due to beatings and one due to gunshot.

Just like in Chandigarh, details of 8 murders due to stabbing have emerged from Zirakpur this year. Contrary to this trend, in Mohali and Panchkula areas, incidents of revolver and pistol use have increased. But the rapid rise of such crimes demands better strategy from criminologists and greater accountability and alertness from the police administration.

Statistics show that rapid urbanisation and, along with it, the increasing migration of youth from other states — especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar-Jharkhand — towards Punjab and Chandigarh, has also rapidly increased the number of serious and fatal crimes. Earlier, migrant workers used to come to Punjab to improve the economic conditions of their families. They were considered simple and hardworking.

With their hard work, they made better upbringing of their children possible back in their native places. But now, the third or fourth generations of those migrants are coming here. Due to the migration of Punjabi youth to foreign countries and the disappearance of the tendency to work with hands in the new generation, migrant youth are easily getting work and employment. But this has also removed values like humility and responsibility.

Due to traits like daily wages being double and easily available compared to UP and Bihar, and the ease of boarding a vehicle and escaping to their or any other state after a crime, gangster leaders are also emerging among these migrants. As seen in the 9 murders in the past 15 days in Chandigarh, the accused were mostly migrants associated with colonies, i.e., slum areas. This trend is also a warning signal for our social structure.

Migration cannot be stopped, nor should it be. But it should definitely be regulated based on the social and economic conditions of the related states and the availability or absence of employment at the local level. In large states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, or Karnataka, voices have already started being raised against the unchecked influx of migrant labour.

Rules like every migrant bringing their police record with them and registering themselves if staying for more than 15 days are also starting to come into effect. Demands like barring outsiders from entering occupations in which local people have expertise are now being raised both at the political and social level. Punjab and Chandigarh too now need to take some meaningful steps in this direction.