Lok Sabha Passes Bill To Prevent Paper Leaks, Cheating

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed an 'anti-cheating' bill to check fraudulent practices - such as leaking of exam papers - in government recruitment exams.

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha and, when cleared, presented to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent before it becomes law.

Under this bill, students who take competitive exams in good faith (i.e., they do not knowingly seek to profit from cheating) will not be targeted. However, those who leak exam papers or tamper with answer sheets, by colluding with officials will face up to 10 years in jail and a Rs 1 crore fine.

Significantly, all offences under this bill shall be cognisable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable, meaning police will be empowered to act on its own (and arrest suspects without a warrant), the accused will not be entitled to bail, and the alleged offences cannot be settled via compromise.

Tabled in the Lower House by junior Personnel Minister Jitendra Singh, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill mentions "leakage of question paper or answer key", "directly or indirectly assisting the candidate in any manner unauthorisedly in the public examination" and "tampering with the computer network or a computer resource or a computer system" as offences done by a person, group of persons or institutions.