Mumbai: This was no ‘Swach Bharat campaign’ and they were no ‘great’ citizens of India toiling to keep the busy streets of Thane clean.

On Sunday morning, armed with brooms, four youth hit the streets of Thane and swept away the dirt for over seven even as most Mumbaikars enjoyed their weekend.

While some thought that the youth were Good Samaritans, the fact was that the four young men were undergoing their first day of punishment for molesting a girl and attempting to murder the man who tried to save her.

Last week, the Bombay High Court had quashed the case against accused Ankit Jadhav, Suhas Thakur, Milind More and Amit Adkhale and directed them to instead do community work.

The four had told the Court that the case against them should be set aside as they had reached an ‘amicable settlement’ with the victim.

Even as the victim confirmed the same, the bench, which squashed the case did not want to let go of the four youth so easily.

Instead the court directed that under the police’s supervision, the accused would sweep public roads for 6 months.

“We made a mistake and we are repenting it. We will never do this again. It is also a message for anyone else not to do what we did,” Thakur is quoted in the media.

During Dusshera last year, the men had molested a woman and were under the influence of alcohol. When they were stopped by another man, they hit him with iron rods and were booked for attempt to murder. When the DJ stopped playing the music, they also thrashed him.

Jhadav, another accused said that while he is happy on one hand that he is being used to serve the nation, he is also ashamed by his act for which he is repenting.

The four have also been asked to pay Rs. 5,000 to the Tata Memorial Hospital.