Hyderabad, Aug. 12: Women students of Warangal’s Kakatiya University thrashed a group of eve-teasers, disrobed them and paraded them on the campus for hours.

The roadside romeos, apparently students of a local college, had been harassing the girls at the bus stop near the university gate for about a week. Yesterday, not content with verbal abuse and lewd gestures, they began snatching the victims’ books and dupattas.

Ashwini, a final-year M.Sc student, decided to fight back and slapped one of the boys. Two more girls joined in. Soon, the boys found themselves surrounded by a group of 20 women students.

The girls kept slapping the boys non-stop. They made them take off their shirts and trousers and paraded them on the campus in their underwear with a slogan written on their back. “I am an eve-teaser, you can slap me,” it read.

But the romeos’ punishment wasn’t over. The girls paraded them on the streets up to their homes and told their parents about their conduct.

“We wanted the boys to be socially ostracised so that they would never dare act in this way again,” Ashwini said.

“I was fed up with their vulgar language and obscene gestures. So I jumped on one of them. Luckily, others joined me.”

The university authorities have congratulated Ashwini for her act of bravery and promised her whatever protection she might need.

“We will send these boys’ names to their college and ask that they be expelled,” university sub-inspector G. Sekhar Goud said.

The state government has passed a law against eve-teasing, which provides for a fine of up to Rs 2,500 and two months’ rigorous imprisonment.

Police say that on an average, 50 to 100 incidents of harassment of girl students are reported in a month. So far, only 18 cases have been brought before the courts and only five students have been punished, with fines ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.