SSC exam begins: Alleged question paper leak surfaces in 2 Maharashtra districts, authorities deny claims

In Yavatmal district’s Mahagaon taluka, another alleged paper leak was suspected after images of Friday’s question paper went viral on social media. As images were circulated, local administration officials visited an exam centre in Kothari village in Mahagaon, which falls under Amravati division of the Maharashtra State Board.

However, in a written statement issued on Friday evening, Maharashtra State Board refuted the claims of paper leak.

Regarding the Jalna case, the statement referred to a report submitted by the officials who visited the exam centre concerned.

“The original question paper of the Marathi subject was scrutinised in accordance with the two pages that have been published on some news channels. It was found that the said two pages are not of the original question paper but published by another private publisher. But some handwritten text pages were found containing questions and answers from today’s paper. This means that this question paper is not leaked, but some questions and answers of the question paper have been made viral with the aim of misleading. Taking a serious note of the incident, the district administration has been instructed to conduct a detailed inquiry in this regard and submit a report and take action against those found guilty,” the statement said.

Earlier in the day, Jalna district collector Dr Shrikrishnanath Panchal too denied any paper leak, stating that the Xerox shop sold copies of questions unrelated to that day’s exam.

In a video statement, Dr Panchal said, “No such incident occurred. The local Xerox shopkeepers sold copies of questions that were not part of today’s Marathi subject question paper. The actual question paper remained within the exam centre. There was, however, a commotion outside, with someone even throwing a stone at the centre, resisting the strict anti-copying measures. Appropriate action is being taken regarding this disturbance.”

But refuting any untoward instance at any exam centre in Jalna, the board statement said, “It was just the crowd of parents that was forced out before the examination started, with the help of the police.”

In reference to Yavatmal, the statement added, “A detailed report of the incident has been taken from the persons concerned and it is seen that the question paper was not leaked at the centre but was made viral with the intention of misleading. Instructions have been given to register a criminal case against the guilty persons in this case.”

Over 16 lakh students from across Maharashtra are registered to appear for the SSC examination that commenced on Friday. This year, Maharashtra State Board has launched a rigorous campaign against copying during exams titled “copy-free exam”. Various measures such as video-recording, police patrol, sitting and flying squads and appointment of external staff–are being implemented by the authorities to ensure fair conduct of exams. However, five cases of copying were reported to the board, of which four were from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and one from Pune.