In a bizarre incident in Assam, a 19 year-old girl was made to wrap a curtain around her legs as she came wearing shorts to an exam. Despite having no dress code mentioned ,the girl was derided by the invigilator and was accused of provoking outrage.
The incident occurred on September 15 when the girl had gone from her hometown Biswanath Chariali to Tezpur to appear for the entrance examination of the Assam Agricultural University (AAU). She had unhindered access to the venue but an invigilator inside the examination hall objected to her wearing shorts. The girl insisted on giving the examinations and even informed the authorities that she gave her NEET exams few days back in the same dress code but to no effect, the invigilator did not allow her to enter the exam room in shorts and asked her to wear something ‘decent’ and then she will be allowed to enter. The girl rushed to her father waiting outside the premises and informed him but before he could return with trousers the authorities had provided the girl a curtain to wrap around her legs which she did and wrote her paper. This incident has riled up contradictory emotions from people all over the internet. Some are supporting the girl and are giving the argument that such moral policing is detrimental to women and their freedom while some are opposing the girl and stating that the choice of her clothes was inappropriate for an examination hall.
Nevertheless, we at SehMat Foundation support the motion that clothes do not ensure decency and such regressive ideologies should be completely abandoned and such gender bias behavior and sexualization of young girls is completely unacceptable.
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Editorial- SehMat 