Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu has shot off a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking strong action against the agency, which allegedly forced girl students to remove their undergarments before entering a NEET exam centre in Kollam district.

In her letter to the Union Minister, the Kerala minister expressed “dismay and shock” at the news of “naked assault on the dignity and honour of the girl students” who appeared for NEET examination in an exam centre at Ayur in that district on Sunday.

Bindu said an agency that has been entrusted with the conduct of the examination allegedly forced the girl participants to strip before entering the test centre for reasons known only to themselves. “The shame and shock of this unexpected turn of events have affected the morale and composure of the students whose performance in the test was consequently affected,” she said and strongly recommended action against the agency to prevent future occurrences of a similar nature and sought the Union Minister’s intervention in the matter.

“I write to place on record that we take strong exception to such inhuman behaviour from an agency that has only been entrusted with the task of conducting the examination in a fair manner”, the minister said. The issue came to light on Monday when the father of a 17-year-old girl told the media that his daughter, who was sitting for her first-ever NEET exam, was yet to come out of the traumatic experience wherein she had to sit for the over 3-hour-long exam without a brassiere.

The father had told media that his daughter was dressed as per the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin which did not say anything about innerwear. The Kerala police has registered a case against the friskers allegedly involved in the incident on the basis of the complaint filed by the girl.

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