Jharkhand: Cheating In Exams Can Attract Life Term In Prison, Fines Up To Rs 10 Crore; 'Draconian Law' Says BJP

The Jharkhand Legislative Assembly cleared a bill Thursday (3 August) that makes use of unfair means in competitive exams a non-bailable offence, that can get convicts a life term and fines up to Rs 10 crore. 

The Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Measures for Control and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023 was cleared by a voice vote even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators staged a walkout protesting the ‘draconian law’. 

The new law makes cheating in competitive examinations a non-bailable and non-compoundable offence and gives the police powers to register FIRs without the mandatory preliminary enquiry. 

It also empowers the police to make arrests without seeking approval from higher-ups.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who piloted the Bill, said that using unfair means by examinees, examiners, invigilators, agencies and persons involved in conducting examinations, scrutinising answer sheets and declaration of results has become a chronic problem. 

Soren, while justifying the harshly punitive measures in the Bill, said those provisions were necessary to deter people from using unfair means and rigging exams or results that deprived genuine and meritorious candidates of their dues. 

The Chief Minister said that using unfair means in exams amounted to a grave injustice against deserving candidates and is a criminal act that needs to be curbed firmly. 

Soren justified the penal provisions of the Bill that lays down jail terms up to life imprisonment and fine up to Rs 10 crore for different offences under the law. The new law also debars people convicted under it from appearing in any competitive examinations in future.

Six legislators belonging to the BJP, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (P) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)-CPI(ML) introduced amendments and demanded that the Bill be sent to a select committee of the House. But the treasury benches rejected those demands. 

The Bill was passed with just one amendment suggested by Congress legislator Pradeep Yadav, to bring down the jail term for first-time offenders from three years to one year and the jail term for second-time offenders from seven years to three years. 

The BJP, while condemning the Bill as ‘draconian’, compared it to the infamous Rowlatt Act passed by the British in 1919. 

BJP MLA Amit Mandal said: “This Bill empowers police to make arrests without any preliminary probe. The law has clauses which could be used to describe valid protest as an obstruction in the examination process and book students as well as journalists. The government has brought this law to cover up its wrongdoings”. 

The BJP also pointed out that empowering the police to register FIRs and make arrests without a preliminary probe is “completely unconstitutional”.

“Even in the case of a murder the police have to make preliminary enquiries before arresting a suspect. Cheating in exams has been made a crime more heinous than even murder or rape. We are against cheating, but this law gives the police powers that can be easily misused,” said BJP legislature party leader and former chief minister Babulal Marandi. 

The CPI (ML), which is a partner in the ruling coalition, has also criticised the new law. CPI (ML) MLA Binod Singh said that while the intention of the government in bringing the Bill is good, the new law can ultimately harm examinees. 

“Even for a minor mistake an examinee can be imprisoned for years. Examinees can even be framed. Most examinees come from poor families and it is the poor who will ultimately suffer the most. The Bill seems to have been brought in a hurry. It should have been lenient towards students and harsh on organised gangs that are involved in paper leaks and rigging results,” said Singh. 

BJP MLAs also felt that instead of inflicting such harsh penalties on examinees, the government should crack down on the organised rackets that leak question papers and manipulate answer sheets and results. 

“The government has completely failed to book any such organised gang and, in order to hide its failing, is going after examinees,” said Marandi.