ADILABAD: The Group I exam held in the district on October 16, created a controversy as the overzealous police in their bid to curb malpractice, asked the female candidates to remove their mangalsutras, bangles, earrings and other pieces of ornaments before entering the test centres. At one of the venues, a candidate, after vainly trying to remove her bangles as instructed by the police, had to break them even as her husband watched in shock. Describing the incident as shameful, former BJP Zilla Parishad chairperson C Suhasini Reddy said that the police action violated the age-old custom of Hindu women.
“Married women never remove their mangalsutra and bangles and such action is considered bad omen as per the Hindu tradition,” she said and added that breaking bangles was the worst part of the incident. She said that she would lodge a complaint with the DGP.BJP district president P Shankar also slammed the police for their ‘over enthusiasm’ and alleged discrimination against the candidates of one community.
The video of the female candidates removing their ornaments and bangles has gone viral on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms. Hindu Uthsav Samithi leaders of Talmadugu mandal, led by its president N Padmakar Reddy, has lodged a complaint with the police against the TSPSC officials. He has also complained to the tahsildars about the police action which ‘went against the Hindu tradition and culture’.
When TNIE contacted, District Additional Collector Rizwan Basha Shaik, who was in-charge of the Group I exam, clarified that there were restrictions on candidates from carrying electronic gadgets like mobile phones into the exam hall. He said that an inquiry into the incident was being conducted. The officials were checking videos and CCTV footage of police ‘excesses’.