It would have been another case of juvenile crime for the Surat police, except that the 16-year-old boy arrested with a stolen motorcycle, confessed that he did it to buy medicines for his ailing mother. The police sent him to a juvenile home after they learnt it was his first attempt at crime.

The police said: “The boy has confessed to the crime. He had stolen it from the Kohinoor market.”

Salabatpura police station Inspector V M Anand said, “We have sent him to the remand home and after primary interrogation, have found that this was his first theft.”

The Salabatpura police said the boy had worked in Surat previously and had returned to the city from his native village six months ago to earn Rs 36,000, which was needed for his mother’s surgery.

He started working in a cloth shop in the Surat Textile market. When the shop owner refused to extend him a loan, he decided to steal a motorcycle and sell it.

The police said the boy had stolen the bike on Monday and had arranged for a customer at Udhna.

He was waiting for the prospective buyer when the police arrested him after they did not find the necessary papers on the bike.