NEET candidates forced to remove innerwear, cut sleeves, change denims!

Unaware about the do's and don'ts, many medical college aspirants faced a piquant situation in various parts of the country while appearing for NEET with the authorities asking them to remove innerwear, cut sleeves, change denims and much more.

Over 11 lakh MBBS and BDS aspirants on Sunday appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) at over 1,900 centres across the country.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the exam, had deployed 490 officials at centres spread across 103 cities. A total of 11,38,890 students, including 1,522 NRIs and 613 foreigners, appeared for the exam.

While an 18-year-old girl from Kannur alleged that she was asked to remove her innerwear before sitting for the entrance test, another candidate was asked to remove a pocket and metal buttons of her jeans.

"My daughter went inside the centre, only to return later and hand me her top innerwear. There was apparently a metal hook in the innerwear, which set off the alarm. Having limited time for the exam, she had no choice," the girl's mother, herself a teacher, said.

Several boys wearing full sleeve shirts were told that only half-sleeve shirts were allowed in the examination hall.

Left with no choice, they had to "customise" it by cutting it to size by using a scissor. Also, some who had come wearing shoes had to dump it and hastily opt for the sandals of their parents.

The CBSE has so far not ordered any action into the "bizare" regulations.

Calls and text messages to the CBSE Chairman and Spokesperson went unanswered.

As per the do's and don'ts released by CBSE to prevent cheating, the do's included bringing admit card along with only the required documents.

The don'ts included big buttons, brooches, heeled shoes for female candidates and kurta-pyjama, full-sleeve shirt, and shoes for male candidates. The candidates were also not allowed to carry any electronic device inside the exam centre.