Girls taking exam 'strip-searched'

PUNE: Several girl students taking the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination on Saturday alleged that staffers of the MIT Vishwashanti Gurukul Higher Secondary School near Pune strip-searched them on the pretext of preventing them from carrying chits to the exam centre.
"On the day of our first HSC paper on February 21, two women staffers asked me to remove my inner wear to check for chits," said a 17-year-old.

T he alleged searches took place on February 26 and February 28 as well. One of the girls complained after the 28th. The MIT management denied the allegation and said the staff had only frisked the girls and nobody was asked to take off clothes at any point before, during or after the examination.

It said the issue was being highlighted to malign the MIT's name for taking strict action against cheating. "An FIR has been lodged against two women staffers who allegedly strip-searched the complainant girl," police said. TN Supe, the divisional chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, said, "The exam was shifted to MIT because the previous centre had a problem of mass copying. But the students cannot be touched inappropriately. We will conduct an inquiry of our own."