‘Traumatic experience’: Girls in Kerala ‘forced to remove’ bra for NEET

Speaking to a TV channel, he said his daughter was dressed as per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin, which does not say anything about innerwear.

The excitement to appear in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at a private educational institution in Kollam district of Kerala turned into a humiliating and traumatic experience for young women and girls who on Sunday when they had to remove part of their undergarments to be allowed to write the exam.

The father of a 17-year-old girl, who was sitting for her first ever NEET exam, alleged that his daughter was yet to come out of the traumatic experience.(Photo for representational purpose only)

The father of a 17-year-old girl, who was sitting for her first ever NEET exam, alleged that his daughter was yet to come out of the traumatic experience wherein she had to sit for the over three-hour long exam without a brassiere, reported news agency PTI.

The girl's father has lodged a police complaint and intends to move the Human Rights Commission as well.

Speaking to a TV channel, he said his daughter was dressed as per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin, which does not say anything about innerwear.

Reportedly, the parent confirmed that the girl students were forced to appear for the exam in front of other boy students and male invigilators which made these girls really uncomfortable and disturbed them mentally and physically, news agency ANI reported.

"My daughter has been preparing for the NEET exam since 8th grade. We were confident that she would achieve a good rank on the test but due to this issue she was unable to concentrate and couldn't properly write the exam," ANI quoted a student's father as saying.

The state's women's commission also registered a suo moto case over the incident. Reportedly, the complaints regarding the incident are increasing.

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.

"Such a conduct of the organisers towards the women and girl candidates without considering their human rights was unacceptable. We will be conveying our disappointment regarding what happened to the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) -- a central government agency which conducts entrance examinations for educational institutions," the minister said.

Following the incident, on Monday, different parties held protest marches against the college in connection with the incident, police said. A senior police officer of the district said a team of women officers have gone to record the statement of the girl and based on what she has to say appropriate action, including lodging of a case, would be taken.

The officer also said that they were looking into the private agency which was given the responsibility of conducting the test.

The Kerala State Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, on Monday ordered an investigation into the incident. The commission directed the Kollam Rural SP to file a report within 15 days.

What happened on July 17?

The complainant-father told the TV channel that on July 17 afternoon, after his daughter entered the exam centre, he and his wife were about to have their lunch in the car when they got a call from a number shown as 'information technology' asking them to come to the gate.

"When we reached the gate, we saw our daughter in tears. She said that she and other girls were being asked to remove part of their inner wear and asked for a shawl to wear during the test.

"My wife gave her shawl to my daughter and she went back inside and we thought that was the end of it. However, after the exam got over, when our daughter came back, she was distressed and fell into my wife's arms crying.

He said, according to his daughter, one of the invigilators, most of them were men, said she can either remove her brassiere or she can write the exam. "There were two rooms where undergarments of young women and girls were stacked on top of each other in violation of Covid-19 protocols. Those writing the exams are between the age groups of 17 to 23," he said.

Similar incident

In 2017, authorities allegedly forced a 17-year-old student to remove her bra in north Kerala’s Kannur as part of stringent measures to stop cheating and irregularities in a national medical entrance examination.

The woman – who didn’t want to be identified – had told HT that she was wearing a bra with a steel buckle that caused a metal detector installed outside the examination centre to beep, when she reached at 9.20 am.

With 10 minutes to go for the NEET, she said she was asked to remove her underwear.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)