India’s government proposed on Tuesday longer jail terms and heftier fines for examination paper leaks, seeking to restore confidence after youth-led protests focused on education reforms rocked the country.
Under the proposed legal change submitted to parliament, the maximum prison term for those involved in paper leaks would be doubled to 10 years, while fines could exceed $1 million and court proceedings would be fast-tracked.
The legislative push follows weeks of protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week.
The protests, spearhead by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, drew massive support from young students across the country and presented a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The proposed amendments reaffirm “this government’s deep commitment to safeguard the welfare of the students and the youth of this country”, senior minister Jitendra Singh told the lower house of the parliament.
The changes seek to make the legislation “more stringent and to ensure speedy justice”, Singh said, “so that the credibility of all these exams gets enhanced and gets reinstated”.
The parliament reconvened last week for its monsoon session, with the first few days repeatedly disrupted by opposition lawmakers seeking accountability over a police crackdown on the student-led protests.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of all detained protesters who are under the age of 18 and have no prior criminal record.
Examination paper leaks have long plagued India’s highly competitive education system.
The intense pressure to succeed has fuelled a vast network of coaching centres and created opportunities for criminal groups to profit by selling leaked question papers.
Despite repeated government crackdowns, paper leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.
