NEET-UG row: Over 2 dozen students detained during march to Parliament

More than two dozen students, some of them NSUI members, were detained while protesting against irregularities in NEET-UG and cancellation of UGC-NET exams at Jantar Mantar on Monday, 24 June.

The Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India had planned a march to the Parliament on the day of the commencement of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha.

The students, holding placards and NSUI flags, gathered in large numbers at Jantar Mantar for their 'Chhatra Sansad Gherav'.

Ahead of the protest, police barricaded the area to prevent students from taking out their march. Heavy deployment of Delhi police including paramilitary forces was made at the site.

According to visuals of the protest shared with media, some students tried to go past the barricades, while a few others climbed on the structure.

They were detained by the Delhi police and taken to different police stations, since no permission was granted for the march, an officer said.

Amid a demand for the cancellation of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for undergraduates (NEET-UG) exam held on 5 May, the Union Education Ministry has said that the incidents of malpractices were "localised" or "isolated" and it was not fair to jeopardise the careers of lakhs of candidates who cleared the exam rightfully.

The CBI has filed an FIR in connection with the alleged irregularities under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating), among others.

The UGC-NET-2024 exam for the selection of junior research fellows, assistant professors and PhD scholars was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 18 in two shifts across the country.

The exam was postponed after the government said that the "integrity of the examination may have been compromised".