• "Traumatic experience": Keralan girls were "forced to remove" their bras for the NEET exam

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    "Traumatic experience": Keralan girls were "forced to remove" their bras for the NEET exam

    "Since the eighth grade, my daughter has been studying for the NEET test. We were confident she would perform well on the test, but because of this problem, she was unable to focus and couldn't complete the exam "The father of a student was quoted by ANI.

    Digital Desk: For young
    women and girls who had to remove some of their undergarments on Sunday in
    order to sit for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at a private
    educational institution in Kerala's Kollam district, the anticipation of taking
    the test quickly turned into a humiliating and traumatic experience.



    According to news agency
    PTI, the father of a 17-year-old girl who was taking her first NEET exam
    claimed that his daughter was still recovering from the traumatic experience of
    taking the more than three-hour exam without a brassiere.



    The girl's father has
    reported the incident to the police and plans to file a complaint with the
    Human Rights Commission as well.



     



    Speaking to a TV station,
    he claimed that his daughter was dressed in accordance with the NEET bulletin's
    dress code, which makes no mention of innerwear.



    According to news agency
    ANI, the parent reportedly confirmed that the girl students were required to
    take the exam in front of male invigilators and other male students, which
    caused the girls to feel extremely uncomfortable and disturbed both mentally
    and physically.



    "Since the eighth
    grade, my daughter has been studying for the NEET test. We were confident she
    would perform well on the test, but because of this problem, she was unable to
    focus and couldn't complete the exam "The father of a student was quoted
    by ANI.



    The incident was also the
    subject of a suo moto case filed by the state's women's commission. According
    to reports, the number of complaints about the incident is rising.



    Kerala's higher education
    minister R Bindu responded to the incident on Monday, saying that since the
    test was not put on by a government agency, there had been a serious oversight
    on the part of the organisers.



    "It was unacceptable
    for the organisers to treat the female and young female candidates in this
    manner without taking into account their human rights. We will express our
    dissatisfaction with what transpired to the National Testing Agency (NTA), a
    central government body that administers entrance exams for educational
    institutions, and the Center "said the minister.



    Several groups held
    protest marches against the college on Monday in response to the incident,
    according to the police. A senior police officer in the area stated that a
    group of female officers have gone to record the girl's statement and that
    appropriate action, including the filing of a case, will be taken based on what
    she has to say.



     



    The officer added that
    they were investigating the private company that had been tasked with
    administering the test.



    Meanwhile, on Monday, the Kerala
    State Human Rights Commission commanded an investigation into the incident. The
    Kollam Rural SP was instructed by the commission to submit a report within 15
    days.



    What took place on July
    17th?



    The father who filed the
    complaint told the television station that on July 17 in the afternoon, after
    his daughter had arrived at the testing location, he and his wife were getting
    ready to eat lunch in the car when they received a call from a number that said
    "information technology" asking them to meet at the gate.



    "We saw our daughter
    crying when we got to the gate. She claimed that she and the other girls were
    required to remove some of their undergarments for the test, and she requested
    a shawl to cover herself with.



    "My wife gave her
    shawl to my daughter, and after she returned inside, we assumed the incident
    was over. But when the exam was over and our daughter returned, she was upset
    and sobbed into my wife's arms.



    According to his daughter,
    one of the invigilators—most of them men—said she could write the exam or
    remove her brassiere. "In violation of Covid-19 protocols, young women's
    and girls' undergarments were stacked one on top of the other in two rooms.
    People taking the exams range in age from 17 to 23, he said.



    Authorities in north
    Kerala's Kannur allegedly forced a 17-year-old student to take off her bra as
    part of strict measures to prevent cheating and irregularities in a national
    medical entrance examination in 2017.



    The woman, who wished to
    remain unidentified, claimed to have arrived at the examination centre at 9.20
    am while sporting a bra with a steel buckle that had set off the metal detector
    outside.



    She claimed she was asked
    to take her underwear off with 10 minutes left before the NEET.