NEET-UG | Female Candidates Asked To Remove Innerwear: PIL Before Kerala High Court Seeks Retest, Compensation

A Public Interest Litigation filed in the Kerala High Court has sought compensation to the female candidates who were recently forced to remove their innerwear before appearing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in Kollam. 

While the plea primarily seeks a direction to the Centre to publish a common protocol to conduct examinations in India, the petitioner has also sought a direction to the National Testing Agency (NTA) to re-conduct the exam within two weeks.

A Division Bench of Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice C. Jayachandran will hear the matter tomorrow.

The PIL, filed through a party in person, asserts that this is not an isolated event and that in a similar incident in 2017, four teachers of a school were suspended for asking a girl to remove her innerwear before entering a NEET centre in Kannur.

The petitioner contends that this was recurring due to the lack of a common protocol system to conduct examinations while urging that it is high time to eliminate such human rights violations.

"This is not a first-time incident happening in India in the name of exams. Due to lack of common protocol system to conduct examination, these atrocities are happening," the PIL further states.

This is in light of a recent incident that took place where female NEET aspirants were asked to remove their innerwear before attempting the exam after metallic hooks were detected during screening. 

"A shocking occurrence at the NEET exam centre venue in Kerala, which prides itself on having the highest literacy rate in the nation, shocked the whole nation," the plea reads. 

The petitioner has submitted that such incidents traumatise the candidates and cause mental stress to them. It has been argued that the female candidates could not focus on the exam since it was a 'horrific' experience for them to write an exam for three hours without wearing innerwear. 

The petitioner has also attached several news reports of the incident to substantiate his contentions. He also suggested installing CCTV cameras at the exam halls to catch malpractice instead of such body searches. 

It has also been pointed out that the removed garments were stacked in rooms with no regard to the Covid-19 restrictions in place. 

"There were two rooms where undergarments of young women and girls were stacked on top of each other in violation of Covid-19 protocols," reads the plea. 

On these among other grounds, the PIL has sought the issuance of a common protocol to conduct examinations in India and to provide free counselling to such victims of the incident. The petitioner has also sought an interim order to conduct a retest.

Case Title: Asif Azad v. Union of India & Ors.