These Parents’ Gender Outlook Brought Out Kerala NEET Bra Row

Their protest is not just about intrusive innerwear-policing affecting their children's NEET scores, parents said.

Two parents who protested after their daughters were allegedly forced to remove their bra before writing NEET say why this case is also about gender justice.

(Name: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Parent A, whose daughter was allegedly forced to remove her bra before entering a NEET centre in Kerala's Kollam, raised his voice “against injustice” because he felt those in the wrong should be punished. Parent B, whose daughter underwent a similar ordeal at the same NEET centre, felt that the “violation” should draw “public attention.”

While A lodged a complaint with the police, B released a video message condemning the incident. Though both their protests were dissimilar, what remains common to both the male parents is a strong belief in collective gender justice. And their clarity has helped others too.

A, who is the father of a 17-year-old told The Quint, “I spoke out because this concerns several girl students. This issue does not pertain only to my daughter.” B, who stressed repeatedly that his informal complaint should not be politicised, told The Quint, “This should not happen to other girl students.”

The Quint has withheld the identities of the parents as their children are minors.

While the NEET authorities allegedly forcing girl students to remove their innerwear before appearing for the test came to light on 18 July, National Testing Agency (NTA) formed a task force to investigate the matter on 20 July. Meanwhile, Kerala Police has lodged a case, under sections for outraging the modesty of a woman and verbally outraging the modesty of a woman, against five persons who had allegedly frisked the test takers.

How did the two parents trigger the nationwide outrage?

When Fathers Compared Notes

Both parent A and parent B said that their children reported the alleged violation right after the examination. Each parent, however, reacted differently. Parent A was the first one to bring out the incident. His daughter lodged a police complaint. Parent B, meanwhile, had told his daughter that “it was okay because it could have been part of a routine security check.” The first’s courage later inspired the second.

“I heard about what happened to the other girl on the news and I asked my daughter whether she too had faced the same. Yes, I realised the seriousness of the matter only when the other father came out,” B said.

When fathers compared notes informally, the ordeal of their daughters resonated the same sense of torture and in one case, shame. The girls were first frisked and then a metal detector was swiped across their body. The metal hooks in their bras elicited beeps from the handheld metal detector. “What happened after that was very wrong,” B said.

The girls were asked to remove their bra in a closed room, the parent said. They were then asked to leave the innerwear on the floor.

“They were told that they could wear these back when they come out of the examination hall,” parent B said. When the girls came out, their innerwear were left in a heap right in the middle of the floor. “They were worried if their personal items would get mixed up with that of others',” he said.

What went on in the examination hall was equally harrowing for the girls, the parents said. “My daughter was uncomfortable. She felt cornered. She wrote the exam despite these challenges,” parent B said. B’s daughter told her father that the incident did not affect her performance in the examination. “She was tensed but nothing out of the ordinary,” B said.

‘This Is Also About Treating Women Fairly’

Though The Quint has reached out only to two of the male parents who had raised their objection, it is to be noted that some female parents too have, reportedly, shared their concerns after the incident came to light.

For the parents who have spoken up, B said:

“This is not just about whether this affected their performance in NEET. This is also about being treated well in a public space. One cannot be put through discomfort because one has to wear a certain innerwear as a woman. That is not fair.”

As B realised the gender trouble at the centre of the NEET ‘security’ debacle, he got comfortable in raising his concerns along with other parents. Meanwhile, A said, “I have raised the matter for the benefit of over 100 students who were subjected to a similar ordeal. This is not about one exam or one student,” he said. Currently, about a dozen parents have voiced their protest against the intrusive practice.

On 19 July, Kerala student groups staged a protest at the college that doubled up as a NEET test centre. Two employees of the college concerned are also currently booked. What do the parents want?

“I do not want to get anyone punished for this. I think those who frisked the girls were not trained. I think there should be clear instructions on protocols to be followed at NEET centres from both the central and state governments,” parent B said.

Parent A, however, has been maintaining that those who put the girls through the harrowing experience should be penalised so that this offense does not get repeated.

The experience, however, has made him a better parent, B said. “I am worried about my child’s future. I am worried that NEET authorities could take some retaliatory action against her because we complained. But because this practise should be stopped, I have stood by my stand without wavering,” B explained.