Bhopal, March 24: Two dalit girls appearing for their first board examinations in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh were allegedly stripped by female invigilators while 40 male students watched. Both of them are 15. The incident took place on March 15 during the Class X mathematics examination, but it was reported to the district administration only on Friday.
The alleged outrage happened during an anti-cheating check in the government higher secondary school in Barhebara village. A handful of girls and 40 boys of Barhebara and neighbouring villages were appearing for the examination. The female examiners involved, Preeti Sharma and Reshma Simaiya, suspected that some students were using paper bits to copy and picked the two minor girls and asked them to strip.
One of the girls told sub-divisional magistrate (Gadarwara) P N Yadav that when she refused to obey the examiner's orders, one of them allegedly shouted: "Strip, or I will cut the cord of your salwar." When the girls refused, the examiners allegedly stripped them while male classmates sniggered and cracked jokes. Nothing was found to suggest they had cheated and the girls were allowed to leave after the three-hour test was over.
The girls did not inform their family members for the next nine days. Finally on Friday, they broke down before their parents, who complained to the district administration. The administration has ordered an inquiry.
Speaking to TOI, Narsinghpur district collector Sanjay Singh said: "A complaint has been registered with us and we have asked the block education officer to start a probe immediately and submit a report. It is a serious allegation and we are expecting the report to reach us by Saturday after which the administration will be in a position to comment."
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