On Tuesday, the students had the Book Keeping and Accountancy paper from 11 am to 2 pm, the first exam since they had levelled the allegations. (Express Photo/File)
Three days after staffers at a Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exam centre in Loni Kalbhor were accused of subjecting some students to a “strip-search”, a four-member committee of senior officials visited the centre on Tuesday to investigate the matter, but the girls allegedly refused to speak to them. On Saturday, the girls had lodged a police complaint, alleging that two woman staffers had forced them to undergo a strip search before allowing them to enter the exam hall. The allegations had created a furore and prompted the state government to institute an inquiry. The Maharashtra State Commission for Women had also asked the Pune Rural Police to submit a report.
However, college officials not only denied the allegations, they also held a press conference on Monday to claim that the parents and students had been pressurising them to allow copying at the centre. The exam centre officials had complained to the state board about the same, said the officials, and termed the girls’ allegations as an “act of revenge”.
On Tuesday, the students had the Book Keeping and Accountancy paper from 11 am to 2 pm, the first exam since they had levelled the allegations. At the exam centre in the eye of the storm, police security was strengthened, and senior police officials and state board officials were deployed. A four-member committee headed by Meenakshi Raut, assistant director of education (Pune), and comprising Shailaja Darade, education officer (primary), Harun Attar, education officer (adult education) and K N Chaudhuri, assistant education officer, PMC, visited the exam centre on Tuesday to conduct the inquiry.
“The inquiry committee’s report has observed that the five girls who had given the police complaint were asked to meet the committee members in a classroom on the second floor… some of the girls are believed to have said they would like their parents to be present and they were told to get their parents along. But the committee kept waiting and none of the girls turned up… we don’t know why. Also, despite the presence of a full-time anti-copy sitting squad, and the presence of senior board and police officials, a case of using unfair means was reported from the centre. It is very shocking that even the presence of such senior officials didn’t deter copying cases and points towards a serious problem,” said B K Dahiphale, secretary, Pune Divisional Board of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).
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