From NEET UG to UGC-NET, UP Board to Railway Recruitment, every major exam leak is followed by a few days of headlines, some arrests, an inquiry committee and then… silence. The question remains whether the real kingpin was ever caught? Did anyone get severe punishment? In most of the cases, the culprits are either acquitted or the case dies after languishing in the courts for years. But this is not just a newspaper story. NCRB data, police records of several states and surveys of education activists all paint the same picture that there is little guarantee of punishment for exam leakers in India. Let us understand in the explainer what is the ecology of paper leaks, what do the statistics say, how effective is the new law and why is punishment so rare in this game?

Paper leak is no longer just theft, an underworld economy

First it is important to understand that paper leak is no longer a matter of any one examination centre. Many investigations, including a report by the Indian Express, show that it has become a homogeneous economy, in which coaching operators, printing press owners, examination board employees and even the local administration are involved. The biggest market for paper leaks is social media and encrypted messaging apps, where a copy of a paper is sold to thousands of students within minutes. The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) exam leak, UP Police constable recruitment, and the recent NEET controversy all found a central role for WhatsApp and Telegram groups. According to media reports, this illegal business is worth hundreds of crores of rupees annually.

What the statistics say: Conviction rate less than 10%

According to the Indian Express, in the last decade, out of the exam leak cases in which FIRs were registered, less than 10 percent resulted in conviction. The 2022 report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) also points to the same:

• In education fraud cases (which include paper leaks), the charge sheet filing rate may be 70%, but the conviction rate is only 12-15%.
• The record of Madhya Pradesh is even worse. Barring the Vyapam scam, between 2013 and 2023, the conviction rate in general paper leak cases was found to be less than 5%.
• In high-profile cases like Teacher Recruitment Exam Leak (2022) in Rajasthan, more than 100 accused were caught, but till now only 3 have been convicted and they too were not the main accused.

Why is punishment so difficult in paper leak case?

The question of punishment in case of paper leak is very complicated. When a major exam is leaked, after a few days of media coverage and a few arrests, the real culprits often escape. Behind this is not just one or two, but many layers of the entire system that work together:

• Weak investigation infrastructure and limited resources: Most of the paper leak cases are initially investigated by the local police. Often they do not have the expertise to get to the bottom of cyber crime, digital forensics and encrypted messaging apps. Today’s paper leak game is played on WhatsApp, Telegram and Dark Web, but the investigating agencies remain dependent on traditional methods only. The second problem is that leak conspiracies often spread from one state to another. That means the server is somewhere else, the buyer is somewhere else, the middleman is somewhere else. Local police have limited jurisdiction and both time and evidence are lost in inter-state coordination.
• Political Patronage and Influence: In many paper leak cases, the direction of investigation is decided from above. When the accused is linked to a politician or bureaucrat, the case is put on hold. According to the Indian Express, there are many instances where the arrest of the named accused was postponed for years, or the charge sheet was not filed at all. Transfer of investigating officer, loss of files and witnesses turning hostile are common symptoms of this game.
• Lack of evidence and absence of witnesses: The crime of paper leak is digital and the evidence is very delicate. It is common to delete or encrypt data from phones, laptops and servers. Often by the time the police takes action, the evidence has been destroyed. On the other hand, students and parents shy away from testifying out of fear. The students who have paid to buy the paper also remain silent for fear of implicating themselves. In such a situation, it becomes very difficult to prove the crime in the court and the accused are acquitted on the benefit of reasonable doubt.
• Slow pace of judicial process: On an average, it takes 6 to 10 years to settle a case in India. Paper leak cases are also not untouched by this. Over such a long period of time, witnesses become hostile, evidence becomes weak and victims lose interest. This slow pace of investigation and trial is the biggest shield for the accused. By the time the verdict comes, their career and life have progressed elsewhere and the fear of punishment is gone.
• Limitations of the new law: The ‘Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act’ of 2024 is very strict on paper, with 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. But there is no fixed time limit for investigation, nor is there a mandatory provision for fast-track hearing. Most importantly, no matter how stringent the law is, if the machinery enforcing it (police, prosecution, courts) continues to have the same old flaws, the result will remain the same.
• The students suffering are disorganized and weak: Lakhs of students and parents are scattered victims of paper leak. They neither have money for legal battle, nor any strong platform to raise their collective voice. As a result, public pressure on the government and investigating agencies does not last more than a few days and then everything becomes normal. When the victims themselves give up demanding justice, it becomes even more difficult to punish the culprits.

New Law: How effective is the Act of 2024?

In June 2024, the Central Government implemented the ‘Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act’, in which there is a provision of imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1 crore, considering paper leak as an organized crime. This law is better than before, but the ground reality is different. Even after the implementation of the law, many major leaks occurred in 2025-26. Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) preliminary examination, Chhattisgarh PSC and CSIR-UGC NET in August 2025.

In none of these cases has the harsh punishment provided for been given so far. The biggest limitation of the law is that it does not have a fixed time limit for investigation nor is there a clear provision for compensation to the victim students. Legal experts believe that unless the capacity and independence of the investigating agencies increases, this law will also remain a paper tiger.

Impact on students: One year wasted, career in danger

Those lakhs of students who prepared honestly suffer the biggest brunt of the leak. The exam had to be canceled after the NEET PG 2025 leak, affecting around 2 lakh medical graduates a year. Due to Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) and TET leaks of various states, candidates have to pay fees again and again and the wait for jobs becomes longer. The most frightening situation occurs when students commit suicide under mental pressure. Many such cases have been reported from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, but the system never took accountability for them.

What can change?

• Centralization and specialization of investigation: The investigation of all paper leak cases should be handed over to a central agency or a state unit with cyber experts.
• Fast-track courts: It should be made mandatory to dispose of cases within one year so that the evidence does not go cold.
• Digitization of examination boards: Paper transportation and printing is a fully encrypted digital process with GPS tracking at every step.
• Strict administrative action: The service of any government officer or employee involved in the leak should be immediately terminated and criminal case should be filed against him.
• Justice to students: In case of cancellation of the examination, not only the fees should be returned but there should be a provision for lump sum compensation and priority in the next examination.

The game of paper leak will continue until there is no fear of punishment. Examination mafia is thriving like a protected species in India. Making laws is half the battle. The real fight is to make the process of investigation, prosecution and punishment fast and fair. Till then, the assurance of ‘action will be taken against the culprits’ after every leak will remain just a political slogan.

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Regarding the case of bail rejection of former student leader Umar Khalid, the country’s former CJI DY Chandrachud said on Sunday (January 18) that it is the right of a citizen to get bail before conviction. Along with this, the former CJI asked to ensure transparency in the collegium system related to the appointment of judges in the High Court and the Supreme Court and to restore and strengthen the trust of the common citizen in the judiciary.

‘The matter of right to bail before conviction’
When the issue of bail of Umar Khalid was initially raised by senior journalist Veer Sanghvi in ​​the ‘Ideas of Justice’ session at the 19th Jaipur Literature Festival, Justice (Retd) Chandrachud said, “It is a matter of right to bail before conviction.” Our law is based on a presumption and that presumption is that any accused person is innocent until proven guilty.” Giving examples of several cases, Justice Chandrachud said that if there is a possibility of the accused returning to the society to commit the crime again, tampering with the evidence or taking advantage of bail to escape from the clutches of the law, then bail can be refused to the accused.

What did you say about national security?
He said that if these three grounds are not there then bail will have to be granted. I feel that where there is a national security issue, it is the duty of the court to investigate the matter in depth. Otherwise what is happening is that people remain in jail for years. Expressing concern over the delay in disposal of cases in the Indian criminal justice process, he said that the Constitution of the country is the supreme law and there is no concrete exception in the case and if there is a delay in speedy trial, the accused is entitled to bail.

What did the district courts say about not granting bail?
Justice Chandrachud described the non-grant of bail by the sessions and district courts as a matter of concern and said that distrust towards authority has increased and judges fear that their integrity will be questioned. He said that this is the reason why bail cases reach the Supreme Court. He described the decisions given by the Supreme Court regarding granting permanent commission to women in the armed forces, decriminalizing homosexuality and ‘electoral bonds’ as major transformative decisions of his tenure.

What was said on marital rape case
On the question of not taking up any post after retirement, Justice Chandrachud said that at present he is enjoying life as a citizen. When asked about his regrets regarding any case during his tenure, Justice Chandrachud said that it has been 76 years since the country got independence but even today marital rape has not been brought into the category of crime. He strongly advocated for change in the law for this. It was during his tenure that live telecast of Supreme Court proceedings was started not only in Hindi language but in all the Indian languages ​​listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

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The debate regarding religion and law has once again intensified in the politics of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that no law will be allowed to be made in the country outside the Quran and Sunnah. This statement has come at a time when the country is moving towards the upcoming elections and political parties are trying to woo the public with their respective agendas.

Matter of law within the scope of Quran and Sunnah
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in a meeting with religious scholars in Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila on Sunday, said that a group is deliberately spreading the misconception that BNP does not want laws based on Quran and Sunnah. He clarified that the truth is the opposite and BNP always wants to remain within the ideals of Quran and Sunnah. According to him, ‘Islam is a religion of peace and we want peace. Through this election we want to create a new Bangladesh in a peaceful environment.

BNP General Secretary said that about 90 percent of the country’s population is Muslim and BNP has played the biggest role in protecting the religious values ​​and culture of all the citizens. He alleged that various types of propaganda are being spread against the party and attempts are being made to mislead people.

Serious allegations on the current situation of the country

Mirza Fakhrul said that the country is currently going through a critical phase and ‘evil forces’ are conspiring to spread confusion, agitation and unrest. He claimed that in the last 15 years, democratic institutions were weakened, the economy was damaged, banks were looted and money was smuggled abroad. According to him, to maintain power, such laws were made which ended people’s freedom of expression.

Elections, repression and reference to the past
He alleged that political parties as well as Ulemas and scholars were arrested, tortured and even hanged. Referring to the 2024 mass movement, he said that about two thousand students were shot dead and blood was shed on the streets of Dhaka. He also raised the issue of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia being kept in jail for six years in ‘false cases’ and not getting proper medical facilities.

Taslima Nasreen’s sharp reaction
Writer and human rights activist Taslima Nasreen has given a sharp reaction to this stance of BNP. He wrote on social media that BNP wants to become a bigger party than Jamaat-e-Islami by wearing ‘Muslim cap’. According to Taslima Nasreen, if laws based on Quran and Hadith are implemented then women and non-Muslims will suffer the most. He claimed that such laws would end the rights and freedom of expression of women, minorities and progressive thinkers.

‘Religious law is against civilization’- Taslima
Taslima Nasreen said that there are no religious laws in any ‘civilized country’. In his words, religious laws are anti-human rights, anti-women, anti-equality, against science and modernity and promote hatred, violence and discrimination in the society.

All the countries in the world give special importance to education because everyone knows that only an educated citizen builds a country and creates the future of the country. All over the world, education is considered the foundation of developed countries and that is why different nations create a huge network of schools and colleges at their own level. However, an interesting question always remains in discussion, after all, which country has the highest number of schools and colleges in the world? And where does India rank in this list?

India’s population and education needs

India comes seventh in the world and number 1 in the world in terms of population. According to the survey, 46.9% of the total population of India is below 25 years of age, which makes India a young country. With such a large population receiving education, is the network or number of educational institutions in our country big enough to provide education to such a huge population?

Highest educational institute in India

You will be proud to know that India has the largest number of educational institutions (schools, colleges, universities) in the world. After India comes the United States and China. It is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records that the number of secondary schools in India is the highest in the whole world, where 139,539 educational institutions are available for children or students from class 9th to 12th, which shows that India is completely aware of education.

Total number of schools in India

There are approximately 15 lakh schools in India, which include schools at all levels of primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary, which are providing education to the vast population of India.

Higher education institutions of India

India also has a large number of institutions of higher education (colleges and universities) that are responsible for the future of India’s students, among which IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISC Bengaluru are elite and known throughout the world for their quality of education. There are more than 12,700 higher education institutions in the country, including more than 4,000 recognized universities. In some sources this number is also stated to be 5,000 to 8,000 universities.

America’s educational institutions

The number of higher educational institutions in the United States is approximately 4000, but according to the 2023 24 report, the number of higher educational institutions in America, which include higher degrees like Bachelor’s Degree and sometimes Master’s and Doctorate (PhD), is approximately 5,819. America is the first choice of every student in the world for higher education. There are world famous educational institutions here, which include world famous universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia.

China’s higher educational institutions

China ranks third in the world in the number of higher educational institutions. According to China’s Ministry of Education, there are 3,117 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education, including 1,308 universities and colleges and 1,560 vocational and technical colleges, including major educational institutions such as Tsinghua University and Peking University.

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Many countries of the world are struggling with crime, terrorism, starvation and economic crisis, but there is one country on this earth where there is almost no trace of crime. It sounds strange, but the Netherlands is actually a country in Europe where prisons remain empty and the government has to face new problems due to shortage of prisoners.

In the Netherlands, crime continued to decline over the past decade and this decline was so rapid that many prisons had to be closed. In the jails which had prisoners till 2013, by 2018 such a time came that in many jails there was not even a single criminal left. According to a report published by Telegraph UK in 2016, the Dutch Ministry of Justice had estimated that crime would decrease by about one percent every year and this estimate turned into reality. The country’s social system, people’s standard of living and reformist thinking towards criminals are considered to be the major contributors behind the reduction in crime.

If the jails become vacant then the government will face new problems

The closure of jails had a direct impact on the jail staff. Out of about two thousand employees, only a few people could be adjusted in other government jobs. The situation became so unique that to keep the prisons running, the Netherlands made an agreement in 2017 to import prisoners from Norway. This was a rare case of its kind in the world, where a country had to face the shortage of prisoners.

Why are there less prisoners? What is special in the Netherlands model?

The Netherlands paid more attention to reforming criminals rather than merely punishing them. The most effective solution for this was the electronic ankle monitor system. It is a small device, which is worn on the ankle and it keeps sending the location of the person to the police. If the person goes beyond any prescribed limit, an immediate warning is received. This technology greatly reduced the chances of repeating the crime. Apart from this, criminals are given facilities for education, training and work so that they can return to normal life. Due to this, crowding in jails does not increase and the society also remains safe.

Today there are less prisoners in the jails of Netherlands, more foreigners

The current situation is that in most of the jails of the country, there are very few prisoners and most of them are those who are serving sentences in cases related to other countries. It has now become very rare for crimes to be registered among the local people. This is the reason why many jails remain more than half empty.

Why the Netherlands model is an example for the world

Netherlands has shown that crime can be eliminated not only by strict laws, but also by social reforms and humanitarian approach. Here the police makes better use of technology, the administration is transparent and citizens get such facilities which automatically reduce the chances of crime.

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Nowadays, many cases of divorce are coming to light in India, the reasons for which are also different. Sometimes mutual differences between husband and wife and sometimes an affair of one of them becomes a major reason for this. But amid all this, a question often arises whether the wife can ask for divorce even if the husband has a lot of suspicion. In fact, recently a similar case has come to light from Kerala, in which the High Court has given a big and important decision on this issue. The court has made it clear that if the husband constantly suspects his wife, keeps an eye on her every activity and interferes with her freedom, then it comes under the ambit of serious mental cruelty. In such a situation, let us now tell you whether the wife can ask for divorce on the basis of whether the husband is very suspicious and what does the law say about it?

What was the whole matter?

Actually this matter is from Kottayam, Kerala. According to reports, the woman got married in the year 2013 and she also has a daughter. The woman told the court that her husband started doubting her from the initial days of their marriage. She felt bad if she talked to a man, so much so that her husband forced the woman to leave her nursing job due to suspicion. The woman told the court that when she went abroad with her husband, his behavior became worse. He often locked her in the room, did not allow her to talk to anyone on the phone and sometimes even beat her. At the same time, the woman’s husband called the woman’s accused a liar and accused the woman of presenting exaggerated stories in the court. But the court accepted the wife’s testimony as true.

High Court gave important decision

Before the High Court, a woman from Kerala had filed her petition in the Family Court, but the Family Court had rejected the woman’s petition. After which the High Court overturned the decision of the Family Court. The High Court said that a suspicious husband can make any married life hell. Constant doubt and trust poison the foundation of marriage. The High Court said that when a husband suspects his wife without any reason, keeps an eye on her activities, questions her honesty and interferes with her freedom, then it is a case of serious mental cruelty.

What does the law say?

Regarding this issue, the Kerala High Court, citing Section 10(1)(x) of the Divorce Act 1869, said that continuously doubting the wife and interfering in her personal freedom comes under mental cruelty. In such cases the wife can demand divorce. This decision was going to be considered an example for all those cases where doubt took the place of love and trust in the relationship. The Kerala High Court also made it clear that when trust in marriage prevails over doubt, the relationship loses its meaning.

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In the era of social media, chatting with unknown people has become common. But if you send a message to an unknown girl late at night, it can prove costly for you. Some time ago, a sessions court in Mumbai had given such a decision, which had made it clear that such messages fall in the category of vulgarity and can be punished. In such a situation, let us tell you today how you can get into trouble for sending messages to girls after 11 pm and which law is important for you to know regarding this.

The court had sentenced 3 months

In a case, the Sessions Court of Mumbai had sentenced a person to 3 months imprisonment for sending obscene messages after 11 pm. The accused had sent obscene messages and pictures to a girl. In this case, the court had said that obscenity should be evaluated from the perspective of a common man who applies social standards. At the same time, the court had accepted that such messages can hurt the honor of any girl or married women.

Why was this decision important?

This decision of the Mumbai court is considered a warning to all those people who message unknown women on social media late at night. Regarding this, the court had also made it clear that such conversations do not come under the scope of flirting but under the scope of obscenity and mental harassment. For which the accused may also be sent to jail.

Know this law

If any person sends messages to unknown girls after 11 pm at night, then a criminal case can be registered against him under many sections. If a man sends flirting messages to women, then a case can be registered against him for insulting the modesty of a woman under Section 79 of BNS. In this case earlier punishment was given under section 509 of IPC. Apart from this, according to Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, sending obscene messages or photos to any girl after 11 pm at night will be considered a sexual harassment. Due to this, harshest punishment and fine can also be imposed on the accused.

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