Five women who forced girl students in Kerala to remove their innerwear to appear for NEET, arrested

New Delhi: Five women who forced girl students in Kerala to remove their innerwear to appear for NEETi have been arrested, said Kerala police.

While three women work for an agency hired by NTA, two work for the private educational institute at Ayur where the incident happened

Earlier today, the National Testing Agency (NTA) constituted a fact-finding committee to look into the alleged incident in Kollam where a NEET aspirant was asked to remove her bra.

The father of a 17-year-old girl in Kerala’s Kollam district lodged a police complaint on Monday, alleging that his daughter had followed the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin which does not state anything about innerwear and she was asked to remove her bra to be allowed to write the exam.

While the Kerala government took up the issue with the Centre seeking strong action against the agency which allegedly forced students to do it, Kerala Women's Commission registered a case based on complaints it received. The state police has already registered a case.

The agency hired by NTA, in Kerala's southern Kollam District, for purposes including carrying out frisking, allegedly asked the girl students to remove their innerwear.

A senior NTA official on Tuesday had said: "No complaint or representation has been received by us. On basis of claims in media reports, an immediate report was sought from the centre superintendent and observer. They have informed that no such incident took place and the complaint is fictitious and has been filed with wrong intentions."

The NEET dress code does not permit any such activity as alleged by the parent of the candidate. The code provides for ensuring sanctity and fairness of exam while observing sensitivity towards gender, culture and religion during frisking of candidates, the NTA official added.

Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu, in a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, expressed "dismay and shock" at the news of "naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girl students." Bindu sought action to prevent future occurrences of a similar nature and sought the Union Minister's intervention in the matter.

Protests that began on July 18 intensified on Tuesday and a section of agitators, who took out protest marches, vandalised a private education institution at Ayur in Kollam District, where the girl was allegedly asked to remove her innerwear before writing the National Eligibility cum Entrance test. Student activists allegedly entered the college premises breaking the police cordon, leading to vandalism. Some student activists have suffered injuries in police action.

Based on the girl's complaint, who alleged that she was asked to take away her innerwear before she appeared for the test, police registered a case. IPC 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) have been invoked, police said.

In a statement, the Kerala Women's Commission said based on the two complaints received, it was convinced that prima facie these were actions that insulted women. The chairperson of the commission also asked the National Testing Agency, which is conducting the examination, to take action against those responsible for the incident.

Uncivilized methods such as 'undressing' for the exam, which are written mostly by teenagers, would naturally affect the mind of the students and make them unable to concentrate on the exam, Commission chairperson, P Satheedevi said.