Kerala: A woman medical aspirant from Kerala appearing for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test at the state's Kannur centre on Sunday was shocked when she was asked by officials to remove her bra before sitting for the exam.
Another candidate, who was wearing a pair of jeans, was asked to remove a pocket as well as metal buttons from it. No, it wasn't an act of perversion, but a "way to ensure no cheating" in the exam.
Angry candidates appearing for the test for admission to undergraduate medical courses in government and private medical colleges in the country reported that they were made to undergo humiliating checks at different centres.
The 18-year-old candidate claims she was told by security personnel to remove her bra after the metal detector beeped. When she refused to do so, she was told she won't be able to write her exam otherwise. She reluctantly relented.
“My daughter went inside the centre, only to return later and hand me her top innerwear,” her mother said.
Another candidate, who was wearing a pair of jeans, was asked to remove a pocket as well as metal buttons from her attire..
Her father told IANS: “She was wearing jeans. Since it had pockets and metal buttons, they needed to be removed. I went to a shop about three kilometre away from the exam centre and bought a new dress for her after getting the shop opened.”
Those living in the vicinity of the school where the NEET centre was set up came forward to help candidates by giving them suitable clothes to wear.
“I know of a Muslim family which gave six tops to candidates to wear. Even more shocking was the fact that authorities did not permit anyone to wear full-sleeved top. Those wearing such sleeves had to cut it to make it short-sleeved,” said another harried parent.
“The ordeal is over but it’s debatable how many female candidates would have been able to write the exam properly after they were subjected to so much humiliation. I will write to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to seek action against those responsible,” said state Mahila Congress president Bindhu Krishna.
The Centre Board of Secondary Education organised NEET 2017 on Sunday in as many as 104 cities across the country, for which more than 11 lakh aspirants had registered.
