TC Web Desk
The Kerala Police on Tuesday registered a first information report after girls who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Kollam district were allegedly asked to remove their bras to be allowed to write the examination, reported PTI.
The police have filed the case under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
Reacting to the incident, Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu on Monday said the test was not organised by a state-run agency and what happened indicated a grave lapse on the part of the organisers
The girl’s father told The News Minute: “If it is the rule, they can check the innerwear during frisking. But why remove them? There are no such rules in the NEET bulletin.”
He said that the girl candidates could not write the exam with confidence “due to the perverted approach of a few persons”, reported The Indian Express.
“The thought that they don’t have innerwear while sitting in a hall where boys were also writing the exam, made the girls uncomfortable,” he told The Indian Express. “Many girls said they could not concentrate on the exam. This was cruel.”
The father said that when his daughter refused to remove her bra, she was told she would not be allowed to write the exam. He alleged that other girls faced the same ordeal.
The police complaint about a girl in Kerala asked to remove innerwear before appearing for the medical entrance exam NEET is “fictitious” and has been filed with “wrong intentions”, the exam center’s superintendent has told the National Testing Agency.
According to National Testing Agency (NTA) officials, no complaint has been received by them in this regard.
“No complaint or representation has been received by us. On basis of claims in media reports, an immediate report was sought from the center superintendent and observer. “They have informed that no such incident took place and the complaint is fictitious and has been filed with wrong intentions,” a senior NTA official said.
