Explainer: What's Driving Rising Aggression And Violence Among Children In India?

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A recent incident involving an eight-year-old boy attacking a six-year-old girl at their school has sparked widespread concern across India, highlighting the scourge of children's exposure to violence and the growing challenges of addressing aggressive behaviour at a young age.

The boy, a Grade 3 student at a government-run school, had brutally attacked the girl from the same school in Panchkula in the northern Indian state of Haryana last month.

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The brutal attack, which involved the boy repeatedly banging the child's head against a desk and then throwing a flower pot at her head before kicking her as she lay on the floor, was recorded on a CCTV camera.

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The boy, whose identity is protected under legal safeguards governing juveniles, had lured the girl into an empty classroom by falsely telling her that her father had come to meet her before launching the attack.

He later led the teachers and the girl's parents to the classroom, where she was found unconscious after school hours. She was admitted to a hospital. A video of her walking out of the hospital amid cheers went viral on social media last week.

The boy was sent to an observation home but was later released. He is undergoing psychological evaluation to determine the cause of his violent outburst.

But the incident has created a sense of panic among parents of young children, who say they feel anxious about the safety of their kids even in school.

“It was a shocking incident; the details were horrifying. I couldn't stop thinking about the safety of my children. My son is as old as that girl,” Sanchi Yadav, mother of a 10-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, told Khaleej Times.

“The kind of brutality and aggression is unimaginable. But we know that kids are watching aggressive videos and becoming impatient and intolerant,” Yadav said.

Her worries are not baseless. India has been witnessing a sharp rise in cases of violence involving children as young as 12.

In June this year, police in the western city of Jaipur detained three children between 10 and 12 years of age for allegedly murdering a 12-year-old boy over remarks made to one of the accused's sisters. The child's skull was found in a sewer.

In another case, three students had allegedly assaulted a 12-year-old class monitor with a blade after he enforced queue discipline at a private school in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In the same city, a 15-year-old student was reportedly stabbed by a fellow student outside their school using a folding box cutter in 2025. The victim died in hospital, and the juvenile was detained.

Video games and social media

Experts have increasingly raised concerns about the impact of excessive screen time, violent video games, and unregulated social media exposure on aggressive behaviour and children's ability to manage anger.

These games often involve shooting, fighting, and killing opponents while rewarding players for achieving targets or defeating others.

Three Indian sisters killed themselves after jumping from the ninth floor of their home near Delhi after allegedly being lured by an unidentified Korean task-based gaming app in February.

A similar task-based game had triggered widespread alarm in the country in 2017 as it was linked to suicides and self-harm among children and teenagers.

The lawyer representing the boy told the media that he was addicted to violent mobile games in which players attack virtual characters to earn points.

Psychologists say social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and other short-video applications promote violence through videos showing physical fights, assaults, humiliation and dangerous stunts. Children become desensitised and are no longer afraid of the consequences.

“Almost every child either has their own phone or uses one belonging to their parents. The problem is not AI or social media itself, but that the algorithms are so automated that if a child watches a video about anger or aggression, the platform begins recommending more such content,” Dr Pulkit Sharma, a clinical psychologist, said.

“This could colour a child's mind, which is impressionable, and they can be deeply affected by this exposure. We can't control the content, aggression, or abuse. Whatever they are observing is becoming generalised behaviour.”

Unregulated emotions

Experts also point to unregulated emotions among children. One of the contributing factors is the family environment. With nuclear families, working parents and a lack of time, children are unable to get attention and express their emotions.

Dysfunctional families, neglect and emotional instability, lack of discipline, overindulgence and excessive pampering are further contributing to a sense of insecurity and frustration among children, Dr Sharma said.

“Life has become extremely fast-paced, and people have become increasingly busy. Emotional availability is no longer there.”

“Due to the near-complete breakdown of human support systems, children are left grappling with intense negative emotions on their own. These emotions then manifest as raw aggression, violence, or even self-harm. Kids would either harm themselves, cut their skin, or harm others,” he said.

The lack of qualified counsellors and trained mental health professionals in schools is further compounding the problem.

While India doesn't have a nationwide mandate for every school to appoint a qualified counsellor, the Centre has a framework that requires the appointment of a dedicated counsellor in CBSE-affiliated secondary and senior secondary schools.

Without certified counsellors and proper infrastructure, many children are left to deal with emotional distress on their own, increasing the risk of it manifesting as aggression, violent behaviour or self-harm.

“This [Panchkula] child must have shown behavioural triggers that could have been identified as signs of aggression, but that identification was missing because there were no counsellors in the school as it was government-run,” said Dr Shweta Sharma, a panel psychologist with the Juvenile Justice Board in Gurgaon.

“Even private schools are not hiring counsellors or assigning them to 30-40 students; the ratio is not adequate.”

Punishment or rehabilitation?

The recent cases involving young children have raised fresh questions about India's existing age of criminal responsibility.

Under India's existing legal framework, anyone below 18 years of age is considered a child, and those below the age of seven years cannot be held criminally responsible.

Children aged seven to 12 are exempt from criminal liability if they lack sufficient maturity to understand the nature and consequences of their actions.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, meanwhile, allows children aged 16 to 18 accused of heinous offences to undergo a preliminary assessment to determine their mental and physical capacity to commit the offence and understand its circumstances before deciding whether they should be tried as adults.

There have been several incidents in which teenagers have escaped criminal punishment in cases of rash driving that resulted in deaths, including those of pedestrians. Some argue that exceptional cases involving children should be treated differently.

“Every case is different, and there should be room for the court to decide on the intervention; there should be some customisation according to the case,” Dr Shweta said.

Legal experts, however, warn that placing young offenders in adult prisons could prove counterproductive, exposing them to hardened criminals and drastically increasing the risk of reoffending.

“Neuroscientific research shows impulse control is not fully developed until early adulthood. Law cannot change brain development. What is definitely needed is a strict check on individuals who misuse, manipulate, or lure juveniles into crime,” Ravi Birbal, a Supreme Court advocate, said.

Birbal underlines the need for awareness, education, sensitisation and accountability among teachers and parents to identify behavioural issues and prevent children from being drawn into crime.

“Special homes and places of safety where juveniles are kept are not easy environments, and teenagers between 16 and 18 can always be jailed later for heinous crimes if the Children's Court deems it necessary. The entire trial procedure is tumultuous.

“These kids lose out on the formative years of their lives. In reality, people treat these penalties as a taboo, avoiding and ignoring them for far too long.”

He said that the“ultimate solution is to spread awareness”.

“Improving the education system, having competent teachers, ensuring accountability, installing CCTVs in schools and public places, giving good food to students, and providing spiritual education are some steps forward,” Birbal said.

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