The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken cognisance of the issue where students were forced to remove their bras ahead of NEET before entering the exam hall in Kerala’s Kollam. In a press release, NCW has said that the Commission had written to the Kerala police and asked for a report on the action taken in three days. The incident occurred at Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology in Kollam on Sunday, July 17, and came to light after a parent filed a complaint alleging that his daughter and other female students were made to write the exam without their innerwear, leaving them distressed. After this complaint was filed, more parents came forward with similar allegations.
Saying that it came across several media articles about girl students being forced to remove their innerwear ahead of the NEET 2022 medical entrance examination in a centre at Kollam, the NCW said that it has taken serious note of the reported incident “which is shameful and outrageous to the modesty of young girls”.
“Chairperson Ms Rekha Sharma has written to Chairperson, National Testing Agency to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations levelled by the girl students and to take appropriate action in accordance with law against the responsible. The Commission has also sought a time-bound investigation in the matter. The Commission has also written to Director General of Police, Kerala to conduct a fair investigation in the matter and to register FIR under the relevant provisions of law, if the allegations are found to be true. The action taken must be apprised to the Commission within 3 days,” the Commission said in a release.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), on Tuesday morning, denied the allegations and said that it did not receive any such complaints of girls being forced to remove their bras. The agency also said that when it learnt about the police complaint, it sought immediate comments from the Centre Superintendent, the Independent Observer as well as the Kollam district City Coordinator, and that all three of them said that no such incident happened in the centre.
The police have registered a case under Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and started a probe into the matter.