By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, July 21, 2022: Women have condemned the act of an exam center ordering girl students appearing for a national level exam to remove their undergarments.

“Outrageous…how indignant to disrobe women,” said Present Sister Dorothy Fernandes, reacting to the incident in Kollam, a town in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

The controversy emerged when the father of the 17-year-old girl told the media that his daughter, taking her first National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) on July 17, had yet to recover from the “traumatic experience” of sitting for an over three-hour exam without a bra.

Many girl students were reportedly forced to remove their undergarments before sitting for the exam. Some girls wept in shame. One of the women security employees reportedly asked, “Why are you crying?”

With disturbing callousness, the security personnel instructed the girls to pick up their bras and move on, reported ndtv.com

The incident took place in Kollam, a major town in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

“I would not support such orders. I prefer to walk out of the exam than undergo such humiliation,” says Abhirami Sasikumar, who has just passed the bachelor of computer science this year in Thiruvananthapuram:

However, she says the blame should not go to the security people who followed orders. The higher authorities are responsible for making such orders that humiliate human dignity.

“If they are afraid of malpractices during the exam they should make the invigilators alert and not target the students and their dress,” she told Matters India.

Sister Fernandes wonders how a metal hook could interfere with the exams or become a security issue. “Who gives these orders and put young women in such embarrassing situations? Where are we leading to with these horrible regulations?” she asks.

She further said: “The modesty of the young women were at stake, as if they didn’t have enough stress, they had to undergo such humiliation. Stern and immediate action need to be taken on the ones who promoted this. Enough is enough, the state Women’s Commission needs to immediately take action,” asserted the Patna-based nun, a social activist who has been working with communities on the periphery for the past 25 years.

“Is this how we show, we are empowering our women?” ask Divya Tom, a young profession in New Delhi. She too says such an action only adds to the nervous tension of the female examination takers.

“Checks and pat-downs could be important, but I don’t understand why it is done in an examination center?

Sandra Elizabeth, a student in New Delhi, terms as “very disappointing” that the agency coerced female students to remove their inner garments. “Not only were such arbitrary measures uncalled for, they also caused immense distress to the girls. Students usually spend 1-2 years preparing for this intensive exam, and such last minute rules overwhelm their inner disposition.

The incident, she adds, highlights the gender insensitive approach of examination agencies and personnel.

Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency has ordered a fact-finding team to investigate the incident. The agency had earlier denied the allegations and had said it was told the complaint is “fictitious”.

The National Commission for Women has called the incident “shameful and outrageous to the modesty of young girls.”