Centre introduces anti-paper leak Bill in Lok Sabha with tougher penalties

The Bill enhances punishments across offences under the law

To assuage student anger over examination paper leaks, the government on Monday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha (LS) to amend the two-year-old anti-paper leak law, making its penal provisions more stringent. The Bill was introduced amid protests from the Opposition, which demanded that the government make a statement in the House on the alleged police brutality against protesters led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) during their march to Parliament on July 20.

 

During the course of the day, senior ministers continued to hold parleys with the Opposition parties to end the stalemate and allow the Bill to be taken up for consideration. After the LS adjourned at 2 pm, Speaker Om Birla met leaders of all political parties to persuade them to allow the House to take up the anti-paper leak Bill for discussion on Tuesday. Sources in the government said they were hopeful that a discussion on the Bill in the LS is likely.

 

 

When the LS reassembled at 5 pm, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said several members, including those from the Opposition, were prepared to participate in the debate but the Congress and "some of its friends" were causing disruptions and not allowing a discussion. The Chair then adjourned the House for the day. Birla had earlier said six hours have been allocated to discuss the Bill, adding that more time can be given based on the sense of the House.

 

Sources in the Opposition said that the government should agree to a discussion on alleged embezzlement of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple as well, apart from making a statement in the House on “police brutality”, including the incident of a policeman in Bihar’s Siwan using an AK-47 rifle against protestors during the July 25 Bihar Bandh.

 

The anti-paper leak amendment Bill, which the Union Cabinet approved on Friday, is one of several steps that the government has taken to address the anger among students over paper leaks. The steps included Dharmendra Pradhan quitting as the country’s education minister. The government has also set up a committee headed by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani to look at revamp of the examination system.

 

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi is slated to address the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday morning, and could broach the subject of examination paper leaks and the government’s efforts to address them. In his last address to the MPs on July 21, the PM had asked them to reach out to the youth.

 

On Monday morning, as Pradhan reached the Parliament House complex, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders welcomed him with a traditional cap and stole, and raised “Pradhan zindabad” slogans. Inside the LS, while BJP MPs raised slogans in his support, Opposition MPs jeered him. Pradhan is scheduled to attend a book launch in Odisha, along with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Tuesday evening.

 

The CJP on Monday expressed concern over reports that students and other protesters were being detained or arrested in Assam, West Bengal and Bihar despite the Centre's assurance that no punitive action would be taken against those who participated in the recent nationwide agitation. The outfit said its legal team is coordinating with lawyers in states concerned to secure the release of those detained and provide legal assistance. It urged the Centre, particularly Union ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh, to honour the assurance given during the negotiations by ensuring the release of those detained and preventing any "coercive or retaliatory action" against protesters anywhere in the country. Its spokespersons said the CJP was awaiting the government's promised written agreement on the withdrawal of criminal cases against protesters and organisers, and warned that it would be forced to resume its agitation if the same was not received by Tuesday.

 

In their social media posts, BJP leaders questioned the CJP leadership for holding a “very big party in a 5-star hotel” after Pradhan's resignation. Posting on X a video footage purportedly showing Saurabh Das and others dancing, former BJP MP and Supreme Court advocate Mahesh Jethmalani questioned the CJP about their source of funding. The CJP said, “That's just how this generation is: confident, creative, resilient, and impossible to stereotype. The uncles and aunties can keep complaining. They'll just have to deal with us."

 

Earlier in the day, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha at 12 noon. The Bill seeks to amend the anti-paper leak law that Parliament passed in February 2024, by enhancing punishments across offences under the law. The proposed amendments seek to introduce statutory timelines for criminal proceedings. Investigations by police, a central investigating agency or a special task force must be completed within two months, while trials should, as far as possible, conclude within three months of the filing of the charge sheet. It also provides for setting up of special fast track courts to hear offences under the Act.

 

The 2024 law was enacted in the aftermath of widespread paper leak controversies, particularly involving NEET (UG) and UGC-NET examinations, which triggered nationwide outrage. Days after the NEET-UG 2026 examination was cancelled following a paper leak, at least a dozen NEET aspirants died by suicide, intensifying public anger and demands for accountability. The Centre recently terminated the services of 47 National Testing Agency (NTA) officials.

 

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on Monday visited Rajghat to pay his tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. Wangchuk said criticism over him ending his 26-day fast in presence Union ministers Jitendra Singh and J P Nadda stemmed from a misunderstanding of the Ladakhi traditions. “In Ladakh, when protests happen, it is believed that if a government representative or some big leader breaks your fast, it is considered a victory. They are bowing to you while feeding you. When that does not work out, we break our fast by the hands of a child or an elderly person,” Wangchuk said.

 

The Congress on Monday questioned the government’s proposed fast-track courts as a solution to the paper leaks crisis, citing the instance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) "failing to dispatch" a legal representative to the inaugural hearing of the fast-track court in the NEET-UG 2026 paper-leak case. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Delhi High Court set up the special fast track court in Delhi's Rouse Avenue complex on July 23, but the CBI failed to dispatch a legal representative to the inaugural hearing of this court, forcing an immediate adjournment of the case. The Congress also said that the government has still not finished implementing the 101 recommendations of the K Radhakrishnan Committee formed in 2024. 

 

Right to peaceful protest guaranteed, says top court 

Police excesses or a ‘lathi charge’ cannot be justified merely because there is an agitation, the Supreme Court said on Monday while observing that the right to peaceful protest is “absolutely guaranteed”. 

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant also said it will hear on Tuesday a batch of pleas alleging police excesses against students protesting over exam irregularities and the Neet paper leak during the recently concluded agitation spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Besides, the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, agreed to take up a separate plea filed by a few family members of those police personnel who were attacked during the protest along with other listed petitions. 

“The right to peaceful protest is absolutely guaranteed. That cannot be denied. Merely because there is agitation cannot justify police excesses,” the CJI said. 

In another case, a Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe deferred the hearing on a plea seeking a shift of the Neet to a computer-based test format, deciding to hear it along with two pending petitions seeking broader structural reforms in the examination system. 

The matter will now be taken up with the petitions filed by the United Doctors Front and the Federation of All India Medical Association, which were already listed for hearing next Monday. 

Meanwhile, the first hearing in the designated court to deal with the Neet paper leak case was adjourned on Monday after no one appeared on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 

Bail pleas of two accused were listed for hearing before Special Judge Anu Grover Baliga. Adjourning the matter to August 3, the judge directed the “director of prosecution to depute a public prosecutor in the present court”.

  BS Reporter & PTI

 

(With PTI inputs)