Chandigarh, April 30 — A group of five to six boys allegedly hurled burning bottles into a woman’s home in Ram Darbar’s Phase 2, just after midnight on Monday — the third such arson attempt reported in the city within a week, marking a troubling escalation of youth violence in Chandigarh.
The complainant, 52-year-old Amro, told police she was caring for her paralysed husband and was watching television around 1 a.m. when she heard a commotion near the back gate of her residence. Upon investigating, she saw a group of boys shouting slurs and challenging her son, Kusu, to come outside.
“When I asked them to leave, they started throwing burning bottles at our house,” Amro said in her complaint. “The fire quickly spread to the gallery and back door.” She added that she recognized two of the boys by name — Shivam and Mukki — and believed the attack was triggered by personal enmity with her son.
Following her statement, police registered a case under Sections 190, 191(2), 191(3) and 326(G) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Sector 31 police station.
This latest incident follows two eerily similar attacks in recent days. On April 21, six to seven youths armed with glass bottles filled with flammable liquid launched a firebomb assault on another home in Ram Darbar. The suspects had threatened a young man before setting the bottles alight and targeting both the house and nearby vehicles. Police later arrested all those involved.
Just three days after that, five men reportedly lobbed petrol bombs into a house courtyard in Bapu Dham Colony, Sector 26, over an old dispute. The residents were asleep when the fire broke out.
Police officials say these back-to-back cases suggest a disturbing shift in the methods used by local youth to settle scores.
“This appears to be a new modus operandi adopted by local youths. Earlier, they were more involved in stabbings, but now they’re using burning bottles to target homes,” said an inquiry officer from the Sector 31 police station. “We’re identifying and rounding up the suspects. Most of them are just 17 or 18 years old.”
The officer also expressed concern about the legal hurdles when dealing with minors. “The challenge with juveniles is that they often get off lightly. This lack of consequences seems to embolden them.”
Investigations into all three incidents are ongoing. Authorities say they are examining whether the attacks are connected and whether there is a larger pattern at play.
