A video has emerged of several students training for the National Cadet Corps (NCC) allegedly getting thrashed by their seniors at Vidya Prasarak Mandal’s college in Thane.
The video has sent shock waves in Thane, the home town of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Police are yet to register a case as no one has come forward to report the incident.
Locals say that NCC training is imparted to students of three colleges at a common location in KG Joshi College of Arts & NG Bedekar College of Commerce in order to prepare them for the army and navy.
The video shows at least half a dozen unidentified students lying on the ground, in the rain and muck, as their seniors assault them with sticks. The terrified students are seen crying and pleading but the beatings don’t stop.
Watch the video here:
The Free Press Journal made several attempts to speak with the management of the Vidya Prasarak Mandal but was not successful.
“Shocking” and “Shameful”, says Principal of Joshi-Bedekar College
The Principal of Joshi-Bedekar College, Suchitra Naik, called the incident “shocking” and “shameful”.
“I would say that the senior students who have been involved in the brutal beating of the juniors are mentally ill. They are not human. Apparently apprehensive of their academic careers, most of the students and their parents are preferring to keep quiet. We have appealed to the affected students to come forward and identify the seniors and lodge complaints against them. In the past the NCC has done a very good and commendable job in the college but this incident is really shameful,” she said.
Naik said that authorities had started initiating action and nobody would be spared.
No FIR yet
Vijaykumar Deshmukh, Senior Inspector, Thane Nagar Police Station, said no FIR had been filed.
“The students who are affected have not come forward to file a complain. After seeing the viral video of junior NCC students being brutally beaten by seniors, we ourselves went to the Joshi-Bedekar College and asked the management about the matter. We have appealed to the appealed students to come forward. As of now we have investigated a few authorities in the college and we will also call the students and their parents for the investigation.”
NCP leader expressed shock
Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad expressed shock at the incident and asked the government to take action. “This is unbelievable. Such a thing is going on. We demand strict action in this case,” he said.
Amol Matele, an NCP spokesperson, also wrote to the VC. “The parents and students are in a state of shock after the incident. The punishment being meted out to the students by the unit head is utterly inhuman,” it said.
A delegation of former University of Mumbai senate members from the Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena (UBT), met the varsity’s Vice Chancellor, Ravindra Deshmukh, and asked him to register acase against the college principal.
“We are told that the college’s NCC instructor has moved to another institute after getting promoted. Instead of giving the charge of NCC to another teacher, having senior students conduct training is utterly wrong,” read a letter submitted by the Yuva Sena to the VC.
Meanwhile, the college has suspended one senior student.
