Hyderabad: Several student activists were detained after they attempted to barge into Union minister for coal and mines G Kishan Reddy’s residence near Kacheguda on Saturday morning, June 22.
The students, led by NSUI state president Venkat Balmoor, held a protest and attempted to lay siege on the minister’s house after they were reportedly denied permission to meet the minister to discuss the ongoing issue of the alleged irregularities in the NEET (Undergraduate)-2024 examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The protesters have demanded NEET re-examination and judicial inquiry on the paper leakage. Detained leaders including NSUI Telangana president and MLC Venkat Balmoor, have been taken to Nallakunta police station.
“The appointment of Union Minister Kishan Reddy has been requested to cancel the examination and re-conduct it to ensure justice to the students. But when Kishan Reddy did not give an appointment, all the leaders of the United Youth and Student Unions tried to protest by besieging Kishan Reddy’s house.
We request Kishan Reddy, who is still the Union Minister, to bring their demands to Modi’s attention on behalf of the NEET students. NTA should conduct an inquiry with the sitting judge of the Supreme Court on the paper leakage that happened after your cancellation. We demand an apology from the central government to the 24 lakh students who wrote the NEET exam and their parents.” Venkat said on X.
After the release of NEET results on June 4, ten days ahead of the initial scheduled date, the country is witnessing public outrage against alleged irregularities in the exam conducted by NTA.
Students from across the country have been leading protests over the irregularities in exams conducted by the NTA. However, the Supreme Court refused to defer NEET counselling during the hearing on Friday, June 21.
Protests from various political denominations have intensified with the alleged paper leak of the UGC-NET examination. Under this pressure, the Centre on Friday operationalised a stringent law that aims to curb malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations and entails provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for offenders.
Nearly four months after President Droupadi Murmu gave assent to The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, the Personnel Ministry on Friday night issued a notification, saying the provisions of the law will come into force from June 21.
The move assumes significance amid a raging row over UGC-NET, 2024, exam’s question paper leak. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered a case to probe the question paper leak of the exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
