Centre eyeing tougher rules for paper leaks: What India’s existing law to tackle exam fraud says

Now, The Indian Express has learnt, the Cabinet is expected to clear amendments to this law to add stringent punishments and more penalties for paper leaks and other irregularities in examinations. Sources said that the Bill may be presented in Parliament on Monday (July 27).

Here’s what provisions of the 2024 Act say, the penalties stipulated under it, and why it was brought in the first place.

The Act

The Act lays down 15 acts that count as “unfair means” which are done “for monetary or wrongful gain”.

The list covers leaking question papers or answer keys, unauthorised access to question papers or OMR response sheets, helping candidates during an examination, tampering with computer systems used for examinations, creating fake examination websites, and conducting fake examinations or issuing fake admit cards or offer letters to cheat candidates.

Section 4 of the Act criminalises conspiracy to facilitate these acts. Section 5 bars entry into an examination centre “with intent to disrupt the conduct of the public examination” and prohibits opening, leaking, or revealing a question paper before the scheduled time.

Section 8 extends the liability to service providers and persons associated with them. It says that any person who assists another “in any manner unauthorisedly in the conduct of public examination” commits an offence. It also makes service providers liable if they fail to report an incident of unfair means.

Directors, managers or other officers may be prosecuted where an offence which was committed with their “consent or connivance”, although the Act protects those who prove that the offence occurred without their knowledge and that they exercised due diligence to prevent it.

Penalties under the Act

Section 9 states that every offence under the Act is “cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable”, which means that police may arrest without a warrant, bail is granted only at the discretion of the court, and the case cannot be withdrawn through compromise — thus, a trial must necessarily follow.

Under Section 10, an individual faces three to five years of imprisonment and a fine that goes up to Rs 10 lakh.

A service provider engaged for the conduct of the examination may be fined up to Rs 1 crore, required to bear the proportionate cost of the examination, and barred from conducting public examinations for four years.

The Act also states that where investigation establishes that an offence was committed with the “consent or connivance” of a director or senior management of the service provider, the punishment rises to three to 10 years imprisonment along with a Rs 1 crore fine.

Under Section 11, a separate category of ”organised crime” is created that defines unlawful activity by a person or group “indulging in unfair means in collusion and conspiracy to pursue or promote a shared interest for wrongful gain” in relation to a public examination.

The punishment is five to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than Rs 1 crore. Where an institution is involved, its property may also be attached and forfeited.

The exams covered

The Schedule covers examinations conducted by the National Testing Authority including NEET-UG, JEE (Main), UGC-NET and CUET, as well as UPSC, SSC, Railway Recruitment Boards, IBPS, and recruitment examinations conducted.

Candidates themselves are kept out of the Act’s reach. The Statement of Objects and Reasons says a “candidate as defined in the Bill shall not be liable for action within the purview of the Bill” will continue to be governed by the existing administrative rules of the authority conducting the examination.

Why this law was brought in

An investigation by The Indian Express published in 2024 had counted at least 48 instances of paper leaks across 16 states over five years, disrupting recruitment for around 1.2 lakh posts and affecting roughly 1.51 crore applicants.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Act noted the earlier reforms such as self-attestation, shorter examination cycles, removal of interviews for Group C and D recruitment, computer-based tests, and digital appointment letters through the “Rojgar Mela”.

Even so, it said that “at present, there is no specific substantive law to deal with unfair means adopted or offences committed” and argued that a “comprehensive Central legislation” was necessary to address organised examination fraud.

The government also described the Act as “a model draft for States to adopt at their discretion” to strengthen protection against paper leaks in state-level examinations.

Cases under the Act

The record of convictions under the Act appears to be thin. The CBI’s NEET-UG 2026 case, registered in May under the Act alongside the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act, is still under investigation.

The earlier NEET-UG 2024 case was investigated under the IPC because the alleged offences predate the law’s commencement.

with inputs from Liz Mathew