After spate of cheating scandals in Bihar, army reportedly takes radical step to ‘save time on frisking so many people’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Candidates at an Indian army recruitment day in Bihar were made to take a written exam in their underwear to prevent them from cheating, according to reports, after a spate of exam cheating scandals in the eastern state.

Images in the Indian Express showed dozens of men sitting cross-legged in a field wearing only underpants, with many resting their test papers on their thighs, while a uniformed supervisor stood guard.

The paper quoted an army source as saying they took the radical step to “save time on frisking so many people” after more than 1,000 candidates turned up.

“We had no option but to comply with the instructions even though it felt odd,” one candidate told the paper.

An army spokesman in New Delhi refused to comment on the report.

A year ago police in Bihar said they had arrested about 1,000 aspiring officers for paying people to sit their exams for them.

The high court in the Bihar capital Patna asked the defence ministry on Tuesday for an explanation of the unusual move, after a lawyer filed a petition against the army.

There is huge pressure in India to secure good school grades and highly sought-after government jobs. Methods of cheating uncovered range from old-fashioned crib sheets to hi-tech spy cameras.

Last year in another scandal in Bihar, relatives scaled the walls of a school exam centre to pass notes to candidates.

In another attempt to stamp out cheating, on Sunday authorities in the western state of Gujarat blocked mobile phone internet services in cities and towns where entrance exams were taking place for public service jobs.