India job seekers made to strip for army test to stop cheating

Image copyrightBiharphoto/Gopi Raman Mishra

Image captionThe army said candidates were asked to strip to "save time on checking so many students"

Hundreds of young men in India's Bihar state have been made to strip down to their underwear while appearing for an army recruitment test in an attempt to prevent cheating.

Photographs showed candidates sitting cross-legged in a field in Muzaffarpur town wearing only their underpants.

The army said it was done to "save time on checking so many students".

A candidate told The Indian Express newspaper that he felt "it was not dignified".

Officials said 1,159 candidates participated in Sunday's hour-long written examination to join the Indian army.

"As we entered Chakkar Maidan, the venue, we were asked to remove all clothes except underwear. We had no option but to comply with the instructions even though it felt odd. The gap between candidates was about eight feet in all directions," The Indian Express quoted a candidate as saying.

The paper quoted a senior army official as saying candidates being asked to strip was an "administrative lapse".

Bihar and many other parts of northern India are notorious for cheating during examinations - last year, the state government was embarrassed after parents and friends were photographed climbing school walls to pass on answers to school students.

In January, the state announced tough measures such as fines and jail terms to stop cheating in exams.