CHIKKABALLAPUR: In yet another incident of harassment by college authorities, a student was asked to remove his janivara (the sacred thread) at a Common Entrance Test centre in Chikkaballapur on Thursday. To add insult to injury, a woman official at the centre cut the sacred thread before allowing the student to write the test.
Ironically, Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar is the district in-charge minister of Chikkaballapur and the humiliated student, Suprith, hails from Chintamani -- the minister’s constituency.
Suprith said his Upanayana, a religious ceremony to allow him to wear the janivara, was held only a week ago. He said he was hurt immensely when he was asked to remove the sacred thread and the officials made it worse by cutting it.
Janivara thrown into dustbin
Sources said Suprith’s CET centre was Nagarjuna College and officials at the entrance noticed the janivara and asked Suprith to remove it. First, Suprith did not want to take it off, but as he was desperate to write the test, he agreed to do it.
But when he told officials that he will keep the janivara with him, but won’t wear it, they did not agree. In the meantime, a woman official arrived at the scene with a pair of scissors, cut his janivara and threw it in a dustbin. A visibly upset Suprith wrote the test. When he informed his parents later, they told him that he should have skipped the test.
After the test, Suprith retrieved the severed janivara from the dustbin and took it home. Suprith has decided to file a complaint.