NEET Row: Indefinite sit-in enters 3rd day, students demand NTA scrapping

The agitation against alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, PG and UGC-NET continued on Friday, with protests by several student groups entering the third day of their indefinite strike here at Jantar Mantar.

Left-backed student outfit All India Student Association (AISA) and Delhi University's Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), along with various other groups gathered, at Jantar Mantar to protest against the alleged rigging in the exams held by the National Testing Agency.

The demands of the student groups, who are protesting under the banner "India against NTA", include the scrapping of the National Testing Agency and resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the issue, among others.

On Thursday, the students including Congress' youth wing IYC held a massive demonstration at Jantar Mantar leading to the police resorting to lathicharge to disburse the crowd, visuals from the protest site showed.

In a separate protest, Congress' student wing National Students' Union of India (NSUI) barged into the NTA headquarters in Okhla and locked the entrance of the testing agency's office with an iron lock and chain.

The police have registered a case against NSUI national president Varun Choudhary under sections 186 (obstructing public servant), 353 (assaulting public servant), 452 (trespassing), 342/34 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code for creating ruckus at the NTA office.

About 60 students including members of the AISA and KYS were detained by the police from Jantar Mantar during the protest.

On Wednesday, the students started their protest at Jantar Mantar and were forced to disburse from the protest site after 5 pm. They were detained and taken to different police station for attempting to stage their sit-in for the entire night.

The protest comes in the wake of alleged irregularities and reports of paper leak in national level examinations such as the NEET-UG, NEET-PG and UGC-NET conducted by the NTA.