The principal and staff of Sai Spoorti PU College in Bidar, Karnataka, were suspended days after a student alleged that he was asked to remove his sacred thread (Janeu) at the Karnataka CET exam centre.
As per a notice shared by news agency ANI, principal of Sai Spoorti PU College, Dr Chandra Shekar Biradar, and staff, Satish Pawar, were suspended with immediate effect.
What’s the controversy?
A student, Suchivrat Kulkarni, claimed that he was made to remove the sacred thread (Janeu) at the Karnataka CET exam centre at Sai Spoorti PU College in Bidar on April 17, news agency ANI reported. Janeu is a sacred thread worn by Brahmins.
Officials were quoted by PTI as saying that in Bidar, a student had to return home without writing the Maths paper on Thursday morning, after the screening committee at the examination centre in Sai Spoorti college allegedly asked him to remove the janivara before entering the exam hall.
A police official said, “The boy apparently pleaded the staff [comprising police personnel part of the frisking team] to allow him into the hall since there was no scope of him indulging in any malpractice by wearing janivara.”
“However, he was not allowed by the staff alleging there was a possibility of him harming himself. He was asked to remove the scared thread and then enter the examination hall. But he refused to do so and left the centre without appearing for the Maths paper,” the official added.
The CET aspirant was later allowed to appear for the Biology exam wearing the sacred thread in the (Thursday) afternoon, he said. “The same student had appeared for the Physics and Chemistry papers a day before wearing the sacred thread without any issue,” officials added.
A similar incident took place in Shivamogga, Karnataka. However, reports claim that one of the students refused to remove the sacred thread and he was allowed to write the exam, while the other two removed janivara before entering the exam hall.
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