Kollam: A female student in Kerala's Kollam district was humiliated as she was forced to remove her inner-wear before appearing for the NEET 2022 medical entrance examination on Sunday.
The father of the girl, a native of Sooranad, has filed a complaint with the police against the harassment his daughter had to face.
The incident took place at the exam centre in Marthoma Institute of Information Technology, Ayur.
As per the complaint, the girl was asked to remove her inner-wear at the metal detection stage during the frisking process before entering the examination centre. The complainant said several other girls also had to face a similar experience, which disturbed them greatly.
The complainant's daughter told him that she apparently saw many of the girls crying. Some cut the metal hooks on their inner-wears to be allowed to wear them.
The complainant has sought action against those who humiliated the students even when they were about to write a crucial entrance exam.
"We dropped her around 12 noon at the examination centre and later we were asked to give a shawl by the exam officials. It was only after she came out after the examination did we realise what had happened. It seems there was a metal object in her inner-wear and it was found out during the screening. She and many other students were asked to remove such innerwear and then only they were allowed to take the examination. Even he college where the examination took place said they had no role, as these things were done by an agency who was entrusted for the conduct of the examination," he said.
Minister marks protest
State Minister for Higher Education R Bindu condemned the incident.
“The exam is conducted by a national agency. The woman who did the frisking has committed a serious error. She did not give any consideration for the human rights of the girls. The state government will convey our dissatisfaction over the incident to the NTA as well as the central government,” Bindu said.
K M Abhijith, president of the Kerala Students Union, said appropriate action should be taken against the wrong-doers, while students, after hearing about the incident, staged protest marches towards the institution where this incident took place.
A media report quoting the students stated the removed undergarments were found dumped in a room.
Students who appear for the entrance test are not allowed to wear any metallic object or accessories, in a bid to prevent cheating. Reportedly, the advisory clearly mentions about belts, while it does not talk about undergarments such as bras which may have metallic hooks.
The frisking and biometric checking were done by external agencies, according to reports.
The exam is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The complainant said the NTA's rules had not mentioned anything about inner-wears of the candidates. The NTA is yet to respond to the complaint.
