NCC student punished 'brutally' in Thane college; NCP demands action

Mumbai/Thane: Some students undergoing training for National Cadet Corps (NCC) were allegedly subjected to brutal flogging as punishment at the Vidya Prasarak Mandal's college in Maharashtra's Thane.

A purported undated video of the corporal-style thrashing meted out by an unidentified senior NCC trainer to junior students, surfaced on Thursday, has sent shockwaves among the people in Thane -- the home-town of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

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.

Despite repeated attempts by IANS, the Vidya Prasarak Mandal (VPM) authorities or the principals of the associated colleges -- KG Joshi-NG Bedekar College and B.N. Bandodkar College -- were not available for comments.

Locals say that the NCC training is imparted jointly to the students of the three colleges at a common location in the Joshi-Bedekar campus, to prepare them for future prospects with the army and navy.

As per the video at least half a dozen of unidentified students were made to lie down on the ground full of rainwater and muck, or forced to stand in the muddy water, and some senior trainers assaulting them in a bestial manner with a stick.

The terrified students are seen crying and pleading but the beatings don't stop in the video-clip, believed to be shot by a conscientious student.

Apparently apprehensive of their academic career, most students and their parents prefer to keep quiet, but now the Joshi-Bedekar College Principal Suchitra Naik has appealed to them to come forward, identify the seniors and lodge complaints.

Condemning the incident amid reports that many students are reluctant to volunteer for the NCC training, Naik said that authorities have started initiating action and nobody would be spared.