CET exam officer booked for asking candidate to ‘remove sacred thread’ in Karnataka's Shivamogga
Police have launched a probe to determine the circumstances under which the aspirants were allegedly asked to remove their sacred threads.
Karnataka police registered an FIR against an exam officer in charge of conducting the state Common Entrance Test (CET) at an exam centre in Shivamogga district following a controversy that students appearing for the exam were allegedly asked to remove their sacred thread (janeu).
According to the police, three students in Shivamogga were allegedly asked to remove their sacred thread by the security staff at the Adichunchanagiri PU college exam centre on Wednesday. One of the students refused to remove the sacred thread and he was allowed to write the exam, while the other two removed it before entering the exam hall.
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Officials cited in a news agency PTI report said that an FIR has been registered under sections 115(2), 299, 351(1), and 352, read with section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023 based on a complaint from a person identified as Nataraj Bhagavath.
Parents have not complained
Police have launched a probe to determine the circumstances under which the aspirants were allegedly asked to remove their sacred threads.
A senior police official confirmed on Friday that none of the parents have registered a complaint regarding the alleged incident. “When we questioned the college authorities, they said that only the building is given for examination from their side and that they don't have any role in conducting or facilitating the entrance exams while the staff at the examination centre claimed that they did not ask any students to remove their shirts or the sacred thread. As per regulation, all they asked them was to remove the kashi dhara (scared thread worn around the wrist),” he added.
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The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which oversees the examinations has not issued an official statement on the controversy.
Terming the incident as “unfortunate,” Karnataka Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar claimed that complaints were also received from an exam centre in Bidar.
“Everywhere else, the process went smoothly except for two centres. The people responsible for checking or frisking for any gadgets, or even for whatever protocols were followed, were never instructed to check or remove such items,” the minister told ANI.
