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Kerala NEET frisking case: Testing agency forms panel, 5 women officials held
The incident came to light on Monday, when the father of an undergraduate medical aspirant told reporters that his 17-year-old girl daughter, who was sitting for her first NEET exam, was traumatised after being forced to sit for the over 3-hour-long exam without a brassiere.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), on Tuesday constituted a fact-finding committee to look into complaints that girl students were forced to remove their innerwear before entering an examination centre in Kollam district, even as Kerala Police arrested five women officials in connection with the incident.
The incident came to light on Monday, when the father of an undergraduate medical aspirant told reporters that his 17-year-old girl daughter, who was sitting for her first NEET exam, was traumatised after being forced to sit for the over 3-hour-long exam without a brassiere. Late on Tuesday night, five women officials — two college employees and three members of the private agency engaged to conduct the examination — were arrested in connection with the incident. “They will be produced before a court on Wednesday,” a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity. The police did not disclose the identity of the five women officials.
The fact-finding committee, formed following the directions of the Union ministry of education, has been tasked to “ascertain all the facts about the incident on the spot from stakeholders present at the examination centre” at the Marthoma Institute of Technology in Kollam’s Ayyur town on Sunday, officials familiar with the development said.
Even as the NTA, an autonomous organisation under the ministry of education, on Monday issued a statement asserting that no such incident came to its notice, the ministry on Tuesday asked it to send a team at the spot. The ministry’s directions came after public representatives from the state met Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Kerala higher education minister R Bindu wrote a letter to Pradhan, seeking strong action against the agency.
“The ministry of education has asked the NTA to ascertain all the facts about the incident on the spot from stakeholders present at the centre at that time,” the ministry said in a statement. “Accordingly, a fact-finding committee has been constituted by the NTA to ascertain the facts in detail. Further action will be taken based on the report of the committee.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Kerala deputy inspector general (DIG) of police R Nishanthini said statements of a few more students, who have made similar accusations, will be recorded. After a preliminary inquiry, police found that some complaints were valid, the DIG said.
“We are questioning the five women. We will record statements of more students,” she said.
The father of the 17-year-old NEET aspirant said his daughter was “dressed as per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin which did not say anything about innerwear”.
In a statement issued on Monday, the NTA said the dress code for NEET does not permit any such activity alleged by the parent of the candidate. “The code provides for ensuring the sanctity and fairness of conducting the examination, while observing sensitivity towards the gender/religious/cultural/regional sensitivities involved in frisking/biometric of candidates,” the agency said.
The NTA also said that it sought comments from the exam centre’s superintendent, independent observer as well as the city coordinator immediately. “All three of them, among other things, have stated that they did not find any such incident happening at the centre…,” it said.
According to NEET (UG) 2022 guidelines, “any ornaments/metallic items” are banned at examination centres. However, the guidelines do not describe the nature of such items in detail.
On Monday, while the NTA’s city coordinator told the agency that the complaint levelled by the parent “seems to be with wrong intentions”, the centre superintendent termed the complaint as “fictitious”. The centre observer in his comment said, “I’ve not directly observed anything like stripping of undergarments as alleged in the complaint.”
The Kerala Police said that five more girls narrated their ordeal before the investigating team on Tuesday. “They alleged that they were forced to remove their bras citing the presence of a metal part in them. When they protested, they were bluntly told that they could not appear for the examination,” an officer from the investigating team said, requesting anonymity.
“One of them said her request for a shawl was turned down and another said she had to keep her hair over her chest to protect her modesty for the duration of the examination,” the officer added.
A case has been registered under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code based on the complaint of the 17-year-old NEET aspirant, said deputy superintendent of police (Kollam) V Vijayakumar, who is investigating the case.
The National Commission for Women and the National Commission for protection of Child Rights also sought action against the NEET frisking personnel.
“Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the chairperson of the NTA to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations levelled by the girl students... The commission has also sought a timebound investigation in the matter,” the NCW said in a statement.
The NCPCR, on the other hand, has written to the Kollam district collector requesting an inquiry into the matter.
“You are further requested to furnish statements of the affected children and inform the commission about the staff involved and the action taken against them,” the NCPCR said in the letter.
Meanwhile, the protests that began on Monday after the incident first came to light intensified on Tuesday. A group of agitators took out marches and vandalised the institution at Ayyur town. Protesters entered the college premises breaking the police cordon, leading to vandalism, a senior police officer said. Some students suffered injuries in police action, the officer added.
