Paper leak profiteers won’t circulate questions widely: Supreme Court on NEET row

The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that people leaking exam question papers were doing it for money and are unlikely to circulate it on a mass-scale. The observation was made during a crucial hearing on a batch of petitions related to the alleged irregularities in medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra commenced hearing today.

Senior advocate Narendra Hooda, representing the petitioner, contended that the dissemination of the leaked paper happened on May 3 and solved papers were being circulated on May 4. He cited Telegram videos as evidence.

The NTA, in response, stated, “Our stand is that it is a doctored video.”

The Solicitor General, representing the Centre, also argued that the Telegram channel has an “inbuilt feature that if there is a change, it will be reflected”.

“From that, it is known that this (exam paper) was circulated after the exam,” the Solicitor General said.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court said that a re-examination of the NEET-UG 2024 could only be possible on a “concrete footing” that the sanctity of the medical entrance test has been “affected” on a large scale.

The Supreme Court also looked at the possibilities of when the alleged breach could have happened.

The Solicitor General said that the break was at a particular exam centre. “Between 8.02 am to 9.23 am a person goes in, photographs the paper and comes out,” the Solicitor General said.

CJI DY Chandrachud pointed out that going by the SG’s statement, the students got papers at 10.15 am.

“There are 180 questions. Is it possible that between 9.30 am and 10.15 am that there are problem solvers and putting them to students in 45 minuted?” CJI asked.

“What is worrying us is, how much was the period between the breach occurred and the exam? If the time period is 3 days, obviously there is a greater danger. Does somebody pay 75,000 for 45 minutes?” DY Chandrachud asked.