Student unions protest outside Thane college after video showing thrashing of NCC cadets sparks outrage

A day after a viral video showed NCC cadets being mercilessly thrashed by a senior at a college in Maharashtra’s Thane city, student unions on Friday protested outside the educational institute demanding action against the erring student.

Student groups affiliated with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is also from Thane, demonstrated outside the Joshi Bedekar College where the incident took place. The college management has said that they have suspended the student, who can be seen beating NCC cadets during a physical training session on a rainy day. A fellow student is believed to have filmed the thrashing. Nitin Landge of the Shinde group’s student wing said the NCC cadets who were at the receiving end and their parents are under “extreme” pressure from the college management to not complain against the senior. The college must take the incident seriously and lodge a police complaint, he said.

Members of the student wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) submitted a memorandum to the college management demanding strict action on the senior student. The student group linked with the Sena (UBT) was led by Kiran Jadhav.

A large number of policemen were deployed at the spot to prevent the protesters from barging into the college. The viral video, which sparked public outrage, showed eight cadets in a puddle amid rain, with their heads pinned in the muddy soil instead of using their hands for support. The senior NCC cadet is seen standing behind them, holding a stick, and whacking each of them one by one for failing to execute his challenging drill.

The cadets are seen in a push-up position in a water-logged area with their feet and heads touching the ground and hands folded above the back. When a cadet changes posture, the senior student is seen thrashing him with a stick and going on to thrash others too.

“The NCC instructor for this unit was transferred recently. Senior cadets taking over in the absence of teachers led to this incident,” a university senate member said earlier.

The Joshi Bedekar College in Thane operates the NCC unit along with two other sister concerns, Bandodkar College and VPM Polytechnic. The student, who belonged to Bandodkar College, has been suspended.