Siraha, June 6 -- A decision by the authorities in Siraha to destroy hundreds of mobile phones confiscated from students during examinations has drawn widespread criticism and raised questions about whether the move was legally justified.

At 1:48 pm on Wednesday, a video lasting four minutes and 25 seconds was posted on a Facebook page called 'Siraha Today'. The footage shows police personnel dumping a large number of mobile phones into a water tank before destroying them.

The video was uploaded with the caption: "Mobile phones confiscated during Secondary Education Examination (SEE) in Siraha district destroyed by district police." By the time this report was prepared, it had been viewed more than 560,000 times and had attracted hundre...