Kerala NEET frisking row: Protests in many places even as Centre orders high-level probe

Kerala Students’ Union activist who attempted to damage the NEET exam centre getting thrashed by policve. (KB Jayachandran)

On Tuesday, 19 July, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ordered an immediate probe into the incident, which caught national attention on 18 July after a girl’s father complained to the Kollam rural police.

Pradhan has sought a detailed report from the additional education secretary in Kerala.

Adjournment motion in Lok Sabha

The minister’s intervention came after two MPs from Kerala submitted a notice to raise the issue as an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha.

Congress MPs Hibi Eden and K Muraleedharan have given the notice. They said the matter was grave as the girl students suffered severe mental trauma before writing the examination.

Another Congress MP, Jebio Methar, has raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu had shot off a letter to Pradhan, seeking action against the private security agency which allegedly forced girl students to remove their inner garments.

Meanwhile, two more girls complained to the police about the harassment they had to face in the name of frisking.

‘A mentally harrowing experience’

A girl from Chadayamangalam in Kollam district told media persons that she was forced to remove her innerwear before the exam, which caused her enormous mental distress.

“It was a mentally harrowing experience, and it has badly affected my performance in the examination,” said the girl who is yet to file a police complaint.

“The security staff who did the frisking said innerwear with metal hooks would not be permitted and forced us to remove our brassieres. They told us that it was a rule followed at all exam centres,” said the girl who is yet to file a police complaint.

“Only after the examination did we come to know that it was done only at our centre.”

In the meantime, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the entrance exam, said it had not received any written complaint about the incident.

NTA officials said removing the innerwear of any candidate as part of the pre-test frisking was against its rules and regulations.

Kerala police have started an inquiry into the complaint filed by a native of Sooranad, Kollam, against the humiliation his daughter faced at the exam centre.

CCTV footage

he Union minister, Minister Bindu had expressed extreme “dismay and shock” at the report of “naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girls who appeared for the exam”.

“The incident has created shame and shock among the girls who appeared for the examination. Such a discouraging turn of events would affect the morale and composure of the students, and their performance in the test would be consequently affected,” said Bindu.

She recommended severe action against the private agency to avoid future incidents of a similar nature.

The issue appeared in public focus on Monday, 18 July, when the father of a 17-year-old girl shared the bitter experience of his daughter with the media. He said she was yet to come out of the traumatic experience where she had to sit through the over three-hour exam without a brassiere.

The father said his daughter was dressed per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin, which did not say anything about innerwear. According to him, several other girls who appeared for the examination at the centre faced similar harassment.