NEET Frisking Row: NTA allows female students forced to remove innerwear to retake exam

In a fresh development concerning the ongoing Kerala NEET frisking case, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday issued a letter for reconducting the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) exam for female candidates, who were allegedly forced to remove their innerwear before writing the exam. 

Students have received a confirmation from the NTA regarding the same through email stating that the exam is being reconsidered for students from six centres in the country. The female students interested in retaking the NEET exam can appear on September 4. 

Notably, the six centres include Kollam in Kerala, Shri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, Khushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, and Nagpur in Rajasthan.

It is pertinent to mention that the NEET UG Exam 2022 was held on July 17, 2022, and a total of 18,723, 329 students registered for the NEET UG Exam 2022. The examination was held in 3,570 centres in 497 cities across the country.

NEET Frisking Case

Several young women and female students who had appeared to write the NEET UG Exam at a centre near Kerala's Kollam were asked by women security officials at the college gate to remove their innerwear before entering the examination hall. Meanwhile, when the incident invited immense backlash, Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu came forward on Monday to clarify that the examination was not held by state authorities or agencies and that what happened with the students was a mistake of the organisers. 

According to a PTI report, the father of one 17-year-old girl who appeared for her first ever NEET exam stated that his daughter suffered humiliation and she is yet to come out of the traumatic experience wherein she was forced to sit for the exam for over three hours without her innerwear. The father of the girl also submitted a written complaint.

Meanwhile, it has also come to the fore that all five women, who forced girls to remove their innerwear to appear for National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), were arrested by Kerala police.