To curb paper leaks and rigging, the Nitish Kumar government presented the Bihar Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill 2024 in the Assembly on Wednesday. Provision has been made for three to ten years of imprisonment and a fine for the guilty. It has been provisioned that those involved in paper leak or any activity related to it will be guilty under this law. The accused will face imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1 crore. All crimes under this law will be cognisable and non-bailable.
Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said, "Bihar government has made a strict law against paper leak. With this law, the future of aspirants and students will be secured. The law proposes 10 years imprisonment and a minimum Rs 1 crore fine for the criminals."
In the latest development in the paper leak case, the CBI arrested four MBBS students of AIIMS Patna in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. The CBI has also arrested key accused Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology in Jamshedpur, for allegedly stealing the NEET-UG paper from the NTA's trunk in Hazaribagh, the officials said. Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna, they said. The agency also arrested Singh from Hazaribagh for allegedly helping Kumar steal the paper, they added.
The CBI, which is probing the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam, has lodged six FIRs. The FIR from Bihar pertains to paper leak while the remaining ones from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are regarding impersonation of candidates and cheating. The agency's own FIR on a reference from the Union education ministry pertains to a "comprehensive investigation" into the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024.
The NEET-UG is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions. This year, the exam was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the test.
