India
pti-PTI
Seeking to amend a two-year-old anti-paper leak law, a bill that proposes to set up fast-track courts in every state for speedy trials of accused and enhances punishment is set for introduction in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
On Monday, the Lok Sabha will introduce a bill amending the anti-paper leak law, proposing fast-track courts to complete trials within three months and significantly enhancing penalties, including 5-10 years imprisonment and fines up to Rs 50 lakh for individuals, and 7 years imprisonment and Rs 10 crore fine for organized crimes.
According to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, investigations into paper leak cases are to be completed within two months.
The bill circulated to the Lok Sabha members ahead of its introduction says that individuals involved in paper leaks or unfair means in exams will get jail terms for a minimum of five years and a maximum of 10 years, and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh. For organised crimes, the bill proposes a minimum sentence of seven years and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore.
The present law has provisions for a minimum of three to five years of imprisonment to curb cheating, and those involved in organised crimes of cheating face five to 10 years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 1 crore.
The bill has been listed for introduction, consideration and passage for Monday in the Lok Sabha. Bills are usually not listed for introduction and passage on the same day.
The government announced it was bringing in the proposed legislation after student protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over the NEET paper leak issue gained momentum in recent days.
Protests by opposition parties over the NEET issue led to a washout of proceedings in the first session of Parliament.
The Opposition’s stand on the new bill is still not clear, with Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi saying they will act on the basis of consensus.
The 2024 law was brought in when the government faced raging paper leak controversies. Before this legislation, there was no specific substantive law to deal with unfair means adopted or offences committed by various entities involved in the conduct of public examinations by the central government and its agencies.
The Act aimed to prevent unfair means in the public examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the railways, banking recruitment examinations and the National Testing Agency (NTA), among others.
All the states and UTs will be directed to set up fast-track courts, which will conduct hearings swiftly and complete the trial within three months of filing of the chargesheet, says the bill, which was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday.
In the wake of student protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised a law to deal with cases like the NEET-UG paper leak. He also said that cases of accused in such cases will be tried in fast-track courts.
The CJP on Saturday called off its 36-day agitation after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned and the government accepted its other demands.
The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which the bill proposes to amend, was enacted to prevent resorting to unfair means in public examinations.
The bill notes that in recent years, there have been some incidents of question paper leaks and malpractices in examinations conducted by public examination authorities, “which tend to affect the transparency and fairness of the public examinations system”.
The amendment bill seeks to empower all the state governments and UT administrations to designate any court of session to be a special fast-track court to try offences under the proposed law.
It also provides that the proceedings in such courts are continued on a day-to-day basis and the trial is completed within three months from the date of filing of the chargesheet.
It also empowers the central government to constitute a special task force for investigation of any offence, if necessary.
The bill has provisions for “engagement of services of other government agencies by public examination authority”, “preparation of norms, standards and guidelines” and “reporting of incidents of unfair means or offences”, among others.
Pre-examination activities such as pre-audit for the examination readiness of the public examination centres, candidate check-in, biometric registration, security and screening, seat allocation, question paper setting and loading, invigilation in the examination, post-examination activities and guidelines for providing scribes were also part of the norms.
The Bill outlines 15 illegal acts, including leaking question papers, tampering with OMR sheets, creating fake websites and issuing fake admit cards.
