Indian Teen forced to Cover Legs with Curtain

An Indian teenager was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs after turning up in shorts to take her exam.

Jublee Tamuli, aged 19, travelled 43 miles from Tezpur, Assam to take the entrance test for an agricultural university.

She arrived at Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Pharmaceutical Science (GIPS) in Guwahati, Assam, on Wednesday, September 15, 2021.

It was here that a teacher told Tamuli that they objected to her clothes despite there being no dress code specified and no security stops on her way in.

The 19-year-old asked the teacher to speak with her father but they did not agree so he rushed out to a nearby market in search of a pair of trousers.

However, since the exam was timed, she was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs instead which she later described as the “most humiliating experience of my life.”

Tamuli added: “Is it a crime to wear shorts? All the girls wear shorts.

“And if they didn’t want us to wear shorts, they should have mentioned it in the exam documents.

“They did not check for Covid protocols, masks or even temperature… but they checked for shorts.”

Principal of GIPS, Dr Abdul Baquee Ahmed said that he was not present at the time but “aware that such an incident had happened.”

“We do not have anything to do with the exam – our college was just hired as a venue for the exam.

“Even the invigilator in question was from outside.

“There is no rule about shorts, but during an exam, it is important that decorum be maintained.

“Parents should also know better.”

Many called the teacher’s behaviour “outrageous,” “ludicrous” and “height of moral policing.”

It comes after a 17-year-old girl was beaten to death by members of her extended family for wearing jeans in July, 2021.

Neha Paswan of Deoria, Assam wore jeans and a top which her grandparents and uncles objected to.

Sticking up for herself, she told them that jeans were made to be worn and that she would continue to do so.

Her body was later found hanging from a bridge over a river and four people were arrested and questioned in relation to the death.

Neha had wanted to be a police officer but her mother, Shakuntla Devi, said “her dreams would never be realised now.”