Thane: ‘This is no way to discipline cadets’

A screenshot of the viral clip

A day after a disturbing video of 10 student National Cadet Corps (NCC) members being brutally beaten by stick-wielding seniors on a Thane college campus went viral, Mumbai University set up a three-member inquiry committee comprising college principals to probe the matter. The panel will visit the education institute in question, speak to all those involved and submit a report to the university at the earliest.

Screenshots of the viral video showing a senior cadet whacking 10 junior NCC students on their back, while three other seniors look on

In the viral video, the NCC students can be seen in a push-up-like position with their hands behind their back and their head in a muddy puddle, amid rainfall on the shared campus of Thane's K G Joshi College of Arts, N G Bedekar College of Commerce and B N Bandodkar College of Science. In the clip, a person can be seen hitting them on their backs for not being able to carry out what looks like a drill or a punishment. Apart from the 10 cadets, four others are seen in the video, including the one holding the stick and whacking them. All four have been identified as senior NCC cadets.

The panel set up by the university on Friday will be headed by Professor Mahesh Joshi, the principal of Chetana College in Bandra. The two other members are Dr Dnyaneshwar Doke, the principal of Dahanukar College in Vile Parle, and Dr Vasant Mali, the principal of J Watumull Sadhubella College in Ulhasnagar. "The committee will visit the college and meet the management and all those involved in the incident and prepare a report on the same. Depending on the committee's report, we will decide on the appropriate course of action to be taken," said a Mumbai University official.

Meanwhile, local Yuva Sena workers from Thane and former senate members of Mumbai University met the deputy municipal commissioner of Thane (zone 1) and submitted a complaint letter about the incident on Friday evening. "We had submitted a complaint letter to the Thane DCP and also wrote to Ravindra Kulkarni, the vice-chancellor of MU, to intervene in the matter, following which the three-member inquiry committee was set up. This was an inhuman act and we will not let the culprits walk free," said Pradeep Sawant, former MU senate member from Yuva Sena.

Akbar Dalvi, former NCC co-ordinator at Maharashtra College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Nagpada, said, "The NCC is a training programme. We also teach students discipline. However, punishments such as beating up junior cadets are not allowed. This is an extreme case, I have never heard of anything like this."An NCC co-ordinator from a college in south Mumbai, who was shocked by the video, said, "I hope the college management gets to the bottom of the incident and takes action against those responsible."

Aug 3
Day the clip went viral