JEE-Mains: Delhi High Court Orders National Cyber Forensic Lab To Probe Allegations Regarding Manipulation Of Score Cards

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Director of National Cyber Forensic Laboratory (NCFL) to expedite the investigation ordered in a petition filed by two candidates alleging manipulation of their score cards in JEE (Main)-2025.Justice Vikas Mahajan passed the order after being informed that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), to which the probe was initially ordered, did not have the logistics for conducting the investigation. A letter received by the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court said that the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is the nodal agency under MeitY which has the facility to conduct the investigation. The counsel appearing for CERT submitted that even the said nodal agency does not have the mandate and capability of performing network forensics and server imaging. As the counsel suggested the name of NCFL for conducting the probe, the counsel appearing for the petitioners also agreed to the said suggestion. “Accordingly, the director of NCFL is requested to ascertain the facts in terms of the questions posed by the Court in the order dated May 14, 2025,” the Court said. “The director is requested to expedite the investigation and furnish a report in a sealed cover on or before May 29, in view of the urgency since the result of JEE (Advanced)-2025 will be declared on June 02, 2025,” it added. The Court granted liberty to the Director to ask any further information or to inspect any record of NTA which is relevant to the controversy at hand. The candidates alleged that their final score card in respect of Session I of JEE Main examination was manipulated.It was submitted that the score cards downloaded initially were no more available on the website of NTA, instead the allegedly manipulated score cards with incorrect scores were uploaded.The counsel for the NTA har submitted that there was no manipulation in the score card and that the score cards were also sent through e-mails to both the candidates. It was further contended that it was the NIC which uploaded the score cards. The Court was informed that NIC had certified that there was no manipulation in the score cards as well as the response sheets.The Court had directed investigation regarding the following aspects:- Whether the original score cards and the response sheet relied upon by the petitioners, which were downloaded by them on their respective systems (laptops), were so downloaded from the official website of the NTA?- Are there any traces of tampering (like metadata alterations, edits or inconsistencies in timestamps, author, source etc.) in the digital documents after the same were downloaded in the aforementioned laptops?- Whether the e-mail containing the score cards of the candidates stated to be forwarded by the NTA on 12.02.2025 and 13.02.2025 after declaration of results of JEE (Main) Session I, 2025 were received and accessed by the candidates from their registered e- mail addresses?- Any other information/inputs that is useful to decide the controversy articulated above?Title: ANUSHA GUPTA & ORS v. NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (THROUGH THE DIRECTOR) & ORS. Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 580

JEE-Mains: Delhi High Court Orders National Cyber Forensic Lab To Probe Allegations Regarding Manipulation Of Score Cards

Nupur Thapliyal

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