According to Hindustan Times, eighteen-year-old Soumyadip Mahato’s woes did not end there – he earned the wrath of the minister in-charge of technical education, who believes the student intentionally submitted a dog’s photo to malign the government.
An ITI aspirant was detained for interrogation by the police as part of the inquiry into how the animal’s photo came into his admit card. “Soumyadip Mahato (18) has been detained for interrogation as part of inquiry into the case that sparked a lot of controversy,” police said.
The media report says that Mahato, who belongs to an impoverished family living in the former Maoist stronghold of Jirapara, spotted the photo of the dog when he downloaded the admit card for the ITI entrance test from the official website on Friday. His address and other details on the card were correct.
The son of a daily wage labourer, Mahato worked at a cycle garage to continue his studies and passed the higher secondary examination with 71.4% marks. He wanted to undergo vocational training and applied for admission at the Rangamati ITI in West Midnapore district.
“I was really worried whether I would be able to appear in the exams. I am a bit relieved after the nodal officer has assured me. I have no idea whose fault resulted in this but I have definitely become a laughing stock in my neighbourhood,” he said.
But West Bengal’s technical education and training minister Ujwal Biswas sought to blame Mahato for the incident. He said none of the 133,000 students appearing for the common entrance test for vocational training had any problems.
“The agency in-charge of online registration has informed me that the boy himself had submitted a dog’s photo during registering online,” Biswas said.
“This was done with the evil intention of maligning the government. We are examining option to take action against him,” he said. “Even if the boy didn’t do it by himself, the cyber café from where he uploaded the photo must be behind it.”
The minister’s reaction left many baffled.
The examination is scheduled to be held again on July 5.
