Bengaluru Traffic Police, on June 23, deployed CCTV footage to establish that a student who missed her NEET exam on June 21 had left home late. The analysis, along with route verification, was used to determine her movement from RT Nagar to the examination centre and to rule out claims that traffic congestion linked to a Congress convention at Palace Grounds had contributed to the delay.
According to the police, CCTV records showed the student left her residence at 12.57 pm, while the reporting time for the examination was 1.30 pm. Officials said she reached the vicinity of the examination centre at 1.33 pm, after the stipulated cut-off time.
The traffic police also said the assessment was based on CCTV footage, interaction with the student and her family, and verification of the route taken on the day of the examination. They added that traffic conditions along the corridor were found to be normal and that police personnel facilitated movement wherever required.
Police further said that the “available evidence” did not indicate that traffic congestion was caused by the Congress party’s public event held on the same day.
On June 21, three female students missed their NEET examination after reporting late at the examination centre. On the same day, the Congress party held a convention at Palace Grounds to commemorate MLC BK Hariprasad as he assumed charge as the Karnataka Congress president.
The venue was just three kilometres away from Government Ramnarayan Chellaram College, one of the designated NEET examination centres.
Videos of the distraught students helplessly waiting outside the locked gate prompted outrage. The Congress government had earlier clarified that among the three students who missed the exam, one of them arrived late due to a bus delay, the other one came to the centre with the old hall ticket issued on May 3. The reasons for the delay of the third student, residing in RT Nagar, were being probed.
Following the police clarification, the issue continued to draw attention online, with users debating both the scrutiny of CCTV evidence and the possibility of alternative routes and traffic diversions on the day of the event.
One user questioned the timing and focus of the CCTV scrutiny, stating that authorities “never bothered checking CCTVs for bike thefts or actual crimes all these years” but were now reviewing footage to track student movements.
Some users also pointed out that the student may have taken the longer route due to traffic diversions and slow movement on Bellary road due to the Congress convention.