NEET frisking case: Five women arrested for forcing girl students to remove innerwear

Five women, who forced girl students in Kerala to remove their innerwear to appear for National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), were arrested on Tuesday, informed the Kerala police. Earlier, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took cognizance of the matter and had asked the Kerala Police and the National Testing Agency (NTA) to take action.

The Kerala Police had registered a case under Indian Penal Code (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) on the basis of a complaint of a girl who allegedly faced the humiliating experience while appearing for the NEET exam held at a private educational institute at Ayur in Kollam district on Sunday.

On Monday, Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and expressed her shock and referred to as the 'naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girl students' who appeared for an exam at a centre near Kerala's Kollam. Bindu highlighted how an agency entrusted with the conduct of the examination allegedly forced girl students to strip before entering the test centre for reasons known only to themselves.

Victim's parent files complaint

On July 17, Sunday, a complaint was filed by the parent of a candidate appearing for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) at Marthoma Institute of Information and Technology. In the complaint copy accessed by Republic Media Network, the parent alleged that his daughter was asked to remove her innerwear "even though the dress code mentioned in the protocols, has no mention of the same."

"She was asked to remove her innerwear, and when she denied it, she was told not to write the exam. It was not just the case with my daughter. According to her, a room was filled with innerwears," the parent said in a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Kottarakkara.