18 year olds kidnap and kill a child in Chennai

Three boys kidnapped and subsequently killed a 11 year old boy in Chennai yesterday. The reason - they wanted to collect a ransom of 5 lacs and use the same for buying cell-phones and having a lavish new year party. Read the story here.

The cops have apprehended the CRIMINALS (i hate to call 18 year olds criminals, but pray give me another term for these boys), but are not sure how to proceed with the case. It is evident from the fact that they have not yet released the names of the apprehended. I guess the age of perpetrators is proving to be a problem.

One of the fundamental principles of our upbringing in India is "Always live within your means".
Another one (made very famous by Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munna Bhai - Gandhigiri) is to follow a philosophy of "tolerance towards fellow humans".

In a society that abides by these principles at large, this crime is least to say shocking!!! What also makes it outrageous and unacceptable is the age of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

Some questions that immediately come to mind:

1. Is materialism so deep-rooted in our society that boys of such an age committed this crime for what seems to me a TRIVIAL reason?
2. Was killing the child the only way of failure to beget the ransom?
3. What kind of upbringing have these boys had, that made these boys act with no mortal fear of retribution?
4. Should the parents of these boys also be held responsible for the crime?
5. How can we protect our children from these "DESPERATE WANNABEs"
6. How do we put the fear of god in people who would even consider committing such a crime?
7. Lastly, how do we weave the moral fabric of our society to minimize such instances?

We need to find these answers, if not for ourselves at least for the sake of our future generation.