There was outrage on the campus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Vile Parle, after two undergraduate students of the institute posted a video of themselves, along with another minor, brutally beating and molesting a 13-year-old maid on YouTube, the video sharing Web site.
Students, many of whom had received a link of the shocking video, approached D N Nagar Police Station on Wednesday and registered an FIR against the two students and the landlady of the house in which they lived as paying guests.
The police rushed to Building No. 29 at Four Bungalows, Andheri, and rescued the 13-year-old. They also arrested the two students identified as Parag Singh Parmar, 20, and Anubhav Kandpal, 20.
Parmar is a second year student of the Bachelors in Business Administration programme and hails from Jamshedpur while Kandpal, from Dehradun, is in the second year of the Bachelors in Commerce Honours.
Nirmit Kapadia, a second year student from NMIMS, said, “On Tuesday, someone saw the video on YouTube and sent out an email to some of us expressing outrage. We were disgusted. On Wednesday, we roped in Childline and approached the police.”
Initially, a handful of students were involved in taking action against the duo. By Wednesday evening, they launched an online movement for the Petition for the Immediate Rustication of the Miscreants from NMIMS. By Thursday, over 250 students had joined in.
The police said that a case of molestation was registered against Parmar and Kandpal while the third boy in the video, a minor, and the landlady were booked for employing a minor as a maid, a violation of Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. The duo was granted bail on Thursday.
“Had we not reported the matter to the authorities, we would have been partners in their crime,” said Aditya Aggarwal, an NMIMS student.
Akshay Panday, who was among those who approached the police, said, “They had the gall to post the video and brag about it. We had to do something to end the girl’s misery.”
I am proud of the students who registered the complaint. We promote the culture of courage and the group of students have showed that they can stand up for what they believe in.”
Sanjeevani Aglave from Childline, who rescued the girl along with another colleague, said the maid had been sent to the Chembur juvenile home. “A medical test was conducted on her. We are awaiting the report,” she said.
M D Awahad, senior inspector of DN Nagar Police Station, said that Parmar and Kandpal were produced in Andheri court on Thursday and were granted bail of Rs 7,000 each.
“We are yet to arrest the landlady and another boy who are also accused in this case,” he said.