BAREILLY: In a bizarre incident, a group of students pursuing paramedical course from a local college boycotted examinations alleging that the institute officials “were not providing them cheating material unlike in past years”. A batch of students not only refused to write their exam , but also inflicted cuts on themselves in protest . One on them even tried to hang himself in desperation.

After the 60-odd students from Keshlata Institute of Paramedical Sciences created the ruckus at their examination centre in Rohilkhand Medical College (RMC), college authorities called the police to pacify the angry bunch.

According to the police, college authorities asked the agitating students to leave the RMC premises and told them that their exam stood cancelled. However, they returned to their college and continued their protests. As a few of them inflicted cuts on themselves and one even tried to hang himself on the campus, police were called to control the situation. The examination was rescheduled and had to be conducted in the late-night hours.

One of the students, who did not wish to be named, said, “Last year, too, students were facilitated with cheating material inside the examination hall. We were merely demanding the same. Staff members rarely taught us during the session and notes downloaded from the internet were distributed among us. Teachers did not even bother to complete our syllabus.”

Confirming the incident, superintendent of police (city) Sameer Saurabh said on Wednesday, “It was a very unfortunate incident where students were demanding that college authorities help them in cheating. They boycotted examinations after which cops were called by the college management. Students were asked to calm down and later they appeared in the examination too. No force was used against the students.”

The institute’s chairman, Dr Keshav Agarwal, however, denied the rumours about the institute providing cheating material to students in the past. “All allegations related to the institute providing the students with cheating material during examinations are baseless. Majority of students involved in the protests never attended classes and forced other students to boycott examinations. Examinations at our institute are always conducted with transparency,” he told TOI.

