KOLLAM: The Chadayamangalam police on Tuesday arrested five women on exam duty for allegedly forcing girls to remove their innerwear at a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) centre in Kollam on Sunday, even as four more girls came forward and filed similar complaints with the police.
Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET, has formed a fact-finding committee which will visit Kollam to look into Sunday’s incident.
The five arrested persons are cleaning staff S Mariyamma and K Mariyamma of Mar Thoma Institute of Information and Technology, Ayur, where the examination was held, and Geethu, Jyotsna Joby and Beena who are employees of Star Training Academy, the private agency that conducted the examination. They have been charged under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC. “They are being interrogated,” said DIG (Thiruvananthapuram range) R Nishanthini.
The incident had gained national attention and drew widespread condemnation. On Tuesday, the college witnessed protests by various student organisations. The cyber police carried out an inspection at the college and seized CCTV footage. “It has been confirmed that some women frisked the examinees. We have received four more complaints, taking the total number to five,” said Kottarakkara DySP G D Vijayakumar.
NEET row: Human rights, women’s panels register cases
The National Testing Agency had given the contract for conducting the exam to a private agency in Thiruvananthapuram, which roped another agency in Karunagappally and the latter deployed 10 untrained personnel for the job. The police said these personnel were involved in frisking the aspirants.
Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister R Bindu wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday, expressing anguish over Sunday’s incident. MP N K Premachandran too took up the matter with Pradhan.
“We have sought a high-level investigation by central agencies. Though I demanded a revision of NEET guidelines, the minister turned it down saying Sunday’s was an isolated incident. He also said it was a conspiracy by anti-national elements to destroy the reputation of NEET. He said a police investigation seemed enough,” said Premachandran.
The State Human Rights Commission, Kerala Women’s Commission and the Juvenile Justice Board registered suo motu cases based on media reports. Recalling the horror, one of the NEET aspirants said, “It was a painful experience. We were forced to remove our innerwear in a hall. When I asked how could we go outside and write the exam in such a condition, one of the woman volunteers said every aspirant had to do the same during NEET exam.”
Meanwhile, various student organisations took out a protest march to Mar Thoma Institute of Information and Technology in protest against the incident on Tuesday. They entered into an altercation with the police, following which several people including journalists, policemen and protesters suffered injuries. Congress declared a statewide protest on July 20 against the police action.