NEET-UG 2024| Far Fetched To Say Leaked Papers Were Solved & Given To Students 45 Minutes Before Exam : Supreme Court To Union

While hearing the NEET-UG 2024 case, the Supreme Court on Thursday (July 18) raised doubts over the stand of the Union and the National Testing Agency that the paper leak happened only about 45 minutes before the start of the exam in certain centres.The Court orally remarked that the hypotheses that the question papers were leaked, solved and given to students to memorize all within 45 minutes on the morning of the exam date (May 5), appeared to be "too far-fetched."A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing a batch of cases seeking to cancel the National Eligibility- cum-Entrance Test held this year for Under Graduate medical admissions on the ground of paper leak and other malpractices.During the day-long hearing, the Court posed several queries to the Union and the NTA to ascertain if the paper leak was a localised incident at certain centres or widespread. The Court also orally commented that if the interval between the paper leak and the actual exam was long, then it would indicate a widespread breach.The Union/NTA took the stand that the paper leak happened only at a centre in Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) on the morning of the exam date. The leaked paper was then sent to some gang members in Patna as well.Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that as per the CBI investigation, at a particular centre in Hazaribagh, one person unauthorizedly took photographs of the question papers between 8 AM and 9.20 AM on May 5 (day of exam). These question papers were then solved and the students(who had paid the gang) were given the answers to memorize.CJI Chandrachud wondered if all the 180 questions could have been solved within 45 minutes, given that the examination started at 10.15 AM. SG replied that there were seven persons in the gang who divided the questions among themselves."The whole hypothesis that the entire paper was solved in 45 minutes and given to students is too far-fetched," CJI remarked. SG stated that it was probably the reason why none of the students who cheated got qualifying marks in the exam."Primary breach happens in Hazaribagh. Solving happened in Hazaribagh and sent to Patna. All happened in 45 minutes?," CJI wondered. At this juncture, Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for some candidates, submitted that as per the first FIR registered by the Patna Police, the paper leak happened the previous day of the exam. The case was later taken over by the CBI.While adjourning the further hearing till next Monday, the CJI said that the bench wanted to see the Bihar police records on the investigation carried out by them To ascertain whether the leak remained confined to those centres or had spread across other cities and centres, the Court directed the NTA to publish complete centre-wise and city-wise results masking the candidates' identities. Though Solicitor General vehemently opposed the direction to publish centre-wise results, the Court did not retract the direction. Senior Advocate Narender Hooda, who led the arguments today for the petitioners, referred to certain newspaper reports about question papers being transported in an e-rickshaw to a school in Hazaribagh(Centre and NTA disputed this claim). He submitted that the principal of that school (a NEET exam centre) was later arrested by the CBI in connection with the case. He added that the papers were handled by private entities like courier companies and rickshaw drivers.He also submitted that there are videos showing that the solved question papers were shared on Telegram channels the day before. Hooda also disputed the NTA's claim that the videos were doctored.The bench said that unless there are concrete materials showing that the leak was extensive, the exam cannot be cancelled. When the bench asked if there were instances of malpractices in centres other than Patna and Hazaribagh, the petitioners referred to Godhra.Concerning the centre in Godhra, the Court noted that the wrongdoers were arrested before the malpractice could take place. The Court also said that Godhra was not really a case of paper leak but that of an exam centre head offering to get the papers solved.CJI also opined that since the purpose behind the paper leaks was to gain money, any person involved in the leak would not circulate the leaks en-mass."The idea of somebody doing this is not to make a national charade of NEET exam. People were doing it for money. Therefore anybody who is making money out of it won't circulate it mass scale unless there is a network."Data Analytics Of NEET-UG Results By IIT Madras Not Reliable - Sr Advocate Narendra Hooda Explains The CJI at the outset emphasized the need for evidence of widespread paper leaks to justify cancelling the entire exam. Hooda appearing for the petitioners explained the National Testing Agency (NTA) has not released the complete results for the top one lakh candidates who are likely to secure admissions. He pointed out that...

NEET-UG 2024| Far Fetched To Say Leaked Papers Were Solved & Given To Students 45 Minutes Before Exam : Supreme Court To Union

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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