NEET 2022: 5 women arrested for asking girls to remove innerwear

Kollam (Ker), July 19: The Kerala Police on Tuesday arrested five women for allegedly asking girl students to remove their innerwear before entering the examination hall for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at a private college in Kollam's Ayyur on Sunday.

Initially, after the women were detained, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police R Nishanthini said their arrest will be recorded after statements from a few more students are taken.

While three women work for an agency hired by NTA, two work for the private educational institute at Ayur where the incident happened.

Earlier today, the National Testing Agency (NTA) constituted a fact-finding committee to look into the alleged incident.

The agency claimed that the girl's allegations are fictitious and NTA has not received any such information. NEET protests in Kerala turned more violent upon NTA's statement.

The Ministry of Education issued a statement on Tuesday and stated,"It has been brought to the notice of the Ministry of Education through various media reports that an incident allegedly happened in one of the Centres of NEET(UG)- 2022 near Kollam district in Kerala."

The father of a 17-year-old girl in Kerala's Kollam district lodged a police complaint on Monday, alleging that his daughter had followed the dress code mentioned in the NEET bulletin which does not state anything about innerwear and she was asked to remove her bra to be allowed to write the exam. Five more girls shared their plight before the investigating team on Tuesday and alleged that they too were forced to remove their brassieres because they had 'metal parts'.