A group of students that were undergoing training for the National Cadet Corps (NCC) became subject to brutal flogging at the Vidya Prasarak Mandal's college in Maharashtra's Thane. The incident was captured in a video which has been doing rounds on social media since Thursday. The corporal-style thrashing meted out by an unidentified senior NCC trainer to junior students has sent shockwaves among the people. Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jitendra Awhad expressed shock over the alleged incident and demanded that the government must take immediate action in the matter. "This is unbelievable… Such a thing is going on… We demand strict action in this case," Awhad told mediapersons in Mumbai.
Locals said that NCC training is imparted jointly to the students of the three colleges at a common location in the Joshi-Bedekar campus. The training is aimed to prepare them for future prospects with the army and navy.
Around five to six unidentified students were seen partially lying down on the ground full of rainwater in the video. Then some senior trainers were seen assaulting them with a stick in a horrific manner. The terrified students were seen crying and begging the seniors to stop but they didn't. According to ANI, the video was believed to be shot by a conscientious student.
Most students and their parents are keeping quiet on the matter apparently due to the fear of their academic career. However, now the Principal of Joshi-Bedekar College Suchitra Naik has appealed to them to come forward and help in identifying the seniors who were behind the act. She has also urged them to lodge complaints in the matter.
While condemning the incident, Naik said that authorities have initiated action and none would be spared. Naik said, "The person seen in the video beating students is not a teacher. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. The students who faced this should not be scared."
As per IANS, many students are reluctant to volunteer for NCC training after this incident.