Paper Leak Law Amendment: To curb paper leaks, Modi government has approved major changes in the law. The new amendment includes provisions for fine up to Rs 10 crore, jail up to 10 years and fast track courts.
What is Paper Leak Law Amendment? Paper leak cases continuously coming to light in the country have raised questions on the future of lakhs of youth. Due to cancellation of recruitment and entrance examinations, students’ time, hard work and money were affected. Now, taking a strict stand on this problem, the Central Government has decided to make a major amendment in the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. The Modi Cabinet has approved the amendment bill, which will be introduced in Parliament on Monday.
Why couldn’t the law made two years ago stop paper leaks?
The law, implemented in 2024, was aimed at curbing paper leaks, cheating mafia and organized examination scams in central government examinations like UPSC, SSC, RRB, IBPS, NTA. Leaking question papers, sharing answer keys, tampering with OMR sheets, making fake admit cards and hacking the examination system were declared offenses under the law.
However, despite this, many major examinations had to be canceled due to paper leaks. The biggest reason for this was considered to be relatively less punishment and limited scope. Despite the punishment being 3 to 5 years in normal cases and 5 to 10 years in organized crime, it did not have the expected effect on the mafia. Also, this law was mainly limited to the examinations notified by the Central Government.
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What will be the major changes after the amendment?
Modi government is now going to make the law more stringent. According to the amendment bill, the fine in cases related to paper leak can be increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 10 crore. There is a proposal to increase the jail sentence from 5 years to 10 years.
The most important change is that fast track courts will be mandatory for hearing such cases, which will be targeted to deliver the verdict within three months. This will reduce the problem of pending cases for a long time and the culprits will be punished soon. A provision has also been added to take more stringent action against organized gangs, examination agencies and paper leak networks.
Mafia, not candidates, will be the target of the law
The government has clarified that the purpose of this law is not to punish the candidates appearing for the examination. If any candidate violates the rules, action against him will be as per the rules of the concerned examination body.
The focus of this law will be on those people, gangs and institutions who tamper with the examination system for money or other benefits. If this amendment is passed by the Parliament, it is believed that more effective action will be possible against the paper leak mafia than before and the transparency of recruitment examinations will be strengthened.
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