Panaji
Safina Khan Soudagar, who was not allowed to answer the National Eligibility Test (NET) because she was wearing a hijab, is now relying mainly on the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) for justice. While the GHRC has sent a notice to Safina calling her for a hearing on January 15, before deciding whether to admit her case or not, the other bodies she complained to have said there’s not much they can do since NET is a central, and not a state exam.
From the GSCW, chairperson of Women’s Commission Adv Shubhalaxmi Naik has said that she will write to UGC once she finds out the names of the two officials who stopped Safina from entering the exam hall.
The GSCW is also unsure about further action, as this is the first case of its kind that has come before it. Naik told ‘The Goan’, that since the body that conducts the NET is Delhi-based with no branch in Goa, it is difficult to pin-point whom to hold responsible.
“We are making efforts, along with the candidate, to find out who were the officers that stopped her from entering the exam hall,” said
Adv Naik.
The Director of Higher Education had earlier told Soudagar that he would forward her complaint to the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the NET. Meanwhile, Secretary for Education, Nila Mohanan, reiterated on Monday that at the state level, it was not
within the powers of the Education Department to take any action.
When contacted, Safina told ‘The Goan’ that she was disappointed with the way things were turning out, but had hopes that the GHRC would admit her case.
The 24-year-old has alleged that she was not allowed to answer NET as she was wearing a hijab, which officials claimed was not allowed. Safina, however, says that there was no dress code mentioned in the rules of the exam, and that she was wearing a hijab in the photo she had submitted at the time of application, to which no objection had been raised.
