As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, eight teenage boys studying in a posh, top-ranked IB (International Baccalaureate) school in Mumbai have been suspended after they were caught sharing violent and sexually explicit remarks about their female classmates over Whatsapp.
The action was taken by the school authorities after the mothers of two girl students gained access to the WhatsApp chats and brought it to the school authorities’ notice. Interestingly, this high profile school mostly accommodates children belonging to celebrities or high profile businessmen or diplomats.
All the boys, reportedly aged 13 to 14, in their WhatsApp conversation which lasted from November 8 to November 30, have allegedly used horrifying remarks against their female batchmates. As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, the chat, transcripts of which run into over a hundred pages, is peppered with terms like ‘gang bang’ and ‘rape’, calling girls ‘trash’, and has the eight boys body shaming their classmates and also referring to them as gays and lesbians.
The matter came to light when the two mothers, “celebrities in their own right”, got their hands on the contents of the chat after their girls refused to go to school saying they were too scared.
In one conversation on November 23, the boys spoke about their preferences for a bunch of girls from their class “for a one-night stand”. Likewise, in one other conversation a boy, referring to one of his classmates, says: “Then one night we just go and bang her.” He later uses the term “gang bang”, while referring to the girl, which elicits a cheer from a friend, who replies, “Ye.”
These boys used several homophobic slurs and violent language, like “I’ll destroy that little bi**h” and “should I go full-on and kill her existence”. These conversations centred around two girl students.
Their WhatsApp conversations were posted on a group of which parents of all the students of that class are members. Some of the chats had later been leaked outside. One parent reportedly said that the school is best suited to take whatever action it deems appropriate against the boys and it is unlikely that the police will be approached.
Though few parents with whom Mumbai Mirror, a Mumbai based daily, got in touch with, confirmed the controversy and the suspensions, the school declined to comment despite repeated attempts by the newspaper.
