- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
DAYS after the women’s innerwear fiasco at a high-level examination centre in the southern Indian state of Kerala caused an outrage, more shocking details have come out in connection with the matter.
India’s NDTV news channel said in a report that the women examinees, who were asked to take off their bras before taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) at Mar Thoma Institute of Information Technology in Kollam district of the state, were instructed to take their innerwear in their hand after the examination got over instead of wearing them.
One 17-year-old examinee told the channel while recalling the horror, “They said take your bra in your hand and leave, no need to wear them. We were very embarrassed to hear that. But everyone waited to change. It was dark and there was no place to change…it was a terrible experience.” They were forced to dump their bras in another room if they wanted to take the examination.
She said some girls wept in shame after they were asked to take off their innerwear but added that women security employees chided them for crying over the incident.
The incident happened on Sunday (17).
She was recounting her harrowing experience of being made to remove a bra – simply to be able to take a test.
On Tuesday (19), the state police arrested five women over the incident, including three security personnel for allegedly forcing the women examinees to remove their bras.
While NEET dress code says that examinees are not allowed to carry any metallic items on their bodies but there is no specification over not allowing wearing of bras many of which have metallic hooks.
This is not the first time that such incidents have happened in India, especially in Kerala, called the country’s most literate state.
In 2017, a similar incident happened in Kannur where an aspirant was asked to remove her bra because of its metallic hook. Four teachers were suspended over the incident later.
“I told them it was my bra strap that had a metal hook on it, but they refused to let me in. They insisted that I remove it. Although I argued with them that the rules do not mention anything about innerwear, they refused to hear my pleas. Then, I went to one side of the room, removed my bra and handed it over to my mother who was standing outside the gate. As I entered the exam hall to write the test, I had little confidence left in me,” the girl who was at the receiving end in 2017, told the media.
In May 2018, an 18-year-old girl complained that an invigilator was staring at her chest after she was forced to remove her bra before taking the NEET exam, the Quint reported.
This time, too, the girls had an uncomfortable time while taking their test while sitting along with their male counterparts and their guardians protested over the move and even approached the police.
