A day after it issued a notice to the authorities on the hardships faced by the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) aspirants from Tamil Nadu reaching and appearing in exam centres located in other States, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday issued notices to authorities over alleged harassment and inconvenience caused to students as they were put through rigorous security checks.
Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the Commission has issued notices to the Chairperson, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and the Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu government calling for detailed reports over the issue within six weeks.
“Cutting the sleeves of the shirts and tearing the pants of the aspirants to remove buttons etc. are unethical acts done by the staff deployed at the exam centres. This amounts to violation of the right to dignity of the aspirants,” the Commission said and further observed there was a “need for the authorities to re-think and adopt certain mechanism to ensure security checks at the exam centres in a dignified manner.
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Effective procedure
The CBSE authorities should chalk out a plan by inviting suggestions from experts and develop a more effective procedure for security checks at the exam centres, the Commission noted.
The instructions should also be sufficiently publicised so that the aspirants could be spared of last-minute harassment, it added.
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According to media reports, the hair bands of girl aspirants were removed at the exam centres and Muslim girl aspirants were not allowed to wear the traditional cloth to cover their head and face.
In some cases, male aspirants were also asked to remove the sacred threads ( poonool ).