NEET-UG 2022: National Commission for Women asks NTA to probe Kerala dress row

Additionally, the Commission has also written to the Director General of Police, Kerala asking them to register an FIR under the relevant provisions of law, if the allegations are found to be true. The Commission has given the Kerala team three days to take appropriate action in the matter.

This year, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test undergraduate (NEET-UG) was held on July 17 (Sunday). After the exam, the father of a female NEET-UG aspirant had alleged that his daughter was asked to remove her innerwear before entering the exam hall. He also alleged that “many students” at the Mar Thoma Institute of Information and Technology at Ayur in Kollam were asked to do the same.

The NTA had, in a statement issued Monday night, contested the charges, saying the the observers who were in charge of the examination centre did not report any such incident. The exam centre superintendent had dismissed the complaint as “fictitious”, while the NTA city coordinator alleged it was made with “wrong intentions”. Meanwhile, Kerala’s Higher Education Minister Dr R Bindu  has also described the incident as “highly deplorable”.

However, sources in the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday, that the Agency will send a team to Kerala to investigate the issue. “The NTA holds three major entrances annually, of which the NEET is the largest with over 18 lakh registrations. This is an isolated incident but the ministry has taken it very seriously. NTA is sending a team to Kerala in this regard,” the ministry official said.

Now the NCW has also written to the NTA Chief about the need for a strict inquiry into this matter. “The Commission 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 said in a press statement on Tuesday evening.

The Kerala police on Tuesday took five women into custody in connection with the complaint filed. The women were on duty at the exam centre when the incident took place. `”Three of them were associated with the external agency which was deputed to frisk the students and two others are staff of the institute, where the exam was held. They are being questioned to ascertain their alleged role in the incident,’’ DIG R Nishanthini, who is overseeing the probe, said.

Earlier in the day, police have registered a case related to the incident under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (uttering any word or making gestures intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after recording the statement of the girl. It was registered at Chadayamangalam police under the Kollam Rural police district. Later in the day, four more girls approached the police with similar complaints.

Meanwhile, protest marches taken out to the examination centre by various student organisations turned violet. Scores of students belonging to various student outfits of political parties sustained injuries after police used force to diffuse the tension. The agitating students stoned the institute and damaged the window panes of the college.

(With ENS inputs)