SC refuses to intervene in NEET question paper “leak” issue

Supreme Court today refused to entertain a petition which complained that question paper of NEET phase II exam conducted on July 24 had leaked and sought a court-monitored probe.

“No we will not. We do not want to monitor any probe. The courts are not meant for that. It is the duty of the police and CBSE to examine the issue, ensure there is no hanky panky and take a decision”, the court told lawyers who appeared for petitioner and an aspirant Anshul Sharma.

Sharma has been given liberty to withdraw the petition and file a fresh plea before the Uttarakhand High Court. The bench refused to intervene with the probe begun by the Haldwani police.

The court was hearing the plea seeking its intervention complaining that the question paper of NEET Phase II exam conducted on July 24 had leaked.

It quoted some media reports said it had leaked in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand where around 44,000 students appeared for the exam.

Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde who had appeared for Sharma had relied on a press conference by a district senior superintendent of police in Uttarakhand, who claimed that a syndicate had leaked questions, which were shared on messaging platform WhatsApp. The petitioner has asked for a status report on the investigation to be filed with the court.

The petition said Nainital Police arrested five people belonging to an inter-state racket on July 23, a day before the entrance exam.

CBSE DENIES

CBSE has denied any paper leak and has said they had matched the original question paper of NEET 2 and found that the seized material is entirely different from the original question paper of the entrance test.

CBSE had also released a statement on 25 July, calling it an attempt by some unscrupulous elements to cheat candidates with false promises. “The material seized by the Uttarakhand Police from persons involved in cheating was provided to CBSE and the same was matched by the Board with the original question paper of NEET-II and found that the seized material is entirely different from the original question paper”,  CBSE told the court adding even the court-appointed Lodha committee had not found any irregularity in the exam process.