The National Testing Agency (NTA) has dismissed the complaints filed by a girl student’s father who was asked to remove her innerwear before the NEET exam in Kerala. The candidate’s father has claimed that 90% of students appearing for NEET were subjected to mental torture.
In a statement, the NTA said that “There was no representation/complaint to anyone during or immediately after the examination. NTA has not received any email/ complaint in this regard either.”
“As far as NTA’s dress code for NEET is concerned, it does not permit any such activity as 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 facilitating frisking and biometric entry of candidates,” NTA further said.
Exam centre superintendent in Kollam reportedly told NTA that the complaint is fictitious, and 'has been filed with wrong intentions.'
A controversy over female students being told to remove their innerwear began with a girl candidate’s father claiming that his daughter was asked to remove her innerwear which made it troublesome for her to write the NEET exam.
The man went on to file a complaint with the Kottarakara police in Kollam. Following outrage over the alleged incident, the Human Rights Commission instructed Kollam rural SP to probe the matter and submit a report within 15 days.
Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu has written a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking strong against the agency, which allegedly forced girl students to remove their undergarments before entering a NEET exam centre in Kollam district.
In her letter to the Union Minister, the Kerala minister expressed "dismay and shock" at the news of the "naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girl students" who appeared for the NEET examination in an exam centre at Ayur in that district on Sunday.
Bindu said an agency that has been entrusted with the conduct of the examination allegedly forced the girl participants to strip before entering the test centre for reasons known only to themselves. "The shame and shock of this unexpected turn of events have affected the morale and composure of the students whose performance in the test was consequently affected," she said and strongly recommended action against the agency to prevent future occurrences of a similar nature and sought the Union Minister's intervention in the matter.
