The National Test Agency that conducts NEET must apologize to the female students

What happened to the female students in Kerala at the NEET examination is indeed disturbing. Allegedly female students were asked to remove their innerwear and write the exam without it.  It is more shocking as it happened in the most literate and socially aware state makes it even more alarming.

As per the reports, female candidates appearing for the NEET exam were forced to remove their bras to enter the examination hall in Kerala over 'security. The incident came to light after a student's parent filed a complaint with the Kollam Rural police, alleging that his daughter and other female students were made to write the exam without their innerwear.

Now that many other students have also spoken about it, it appears a rule rather than an exception or an isolated incident. NEET aspirants have said that they were allowed to write the exam after removing bras before entering an exam center as they were told that the metal hooks were a 'security concern'. Even after the exam the students were not allowed to wear them but hold them, making them even more miserable.

This is an outrageous and ridiculous argument and smacks of gender insensitivity as the persons belong to the national testing agency, NTA that conducts the exam. The Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology, Ayur where the exam center was located has said that the persons frisking the students were sent from the NTA, and were not assigned by the college. Though gender insensitivity prevails at the social level at least the institutions must be sensitive to it.

Equally outrageous is the response of NTA which says that nothing of this sort ever happened as they have not received any complaint. In spite of going into a denial mode, they could have well set up an internal inquiry to establish the fact. We live in a society where even rape cases go unreported so it is very unlikely that such an incident would be brought to their notice.

After the incident made headlines the police registered a case against the officials under 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) and made arrests/ Nonetheless it would not suffice as the NTA must apologize and adequately compensate the students who must have distressed during the exam and failed to write their exam properly.