Indian Parliament passes anti-paper leak bill after student protests
India’s Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament, on Thursday passed a bill that would increase penalties for leaking exam papers following youth-led protests that demanded sweeping reforms and forced the resignation of the country’s education minister.
The legislation would double the maximum jail term for those involved in leaking exam papers to 10 years, and raise the maximum fine to more than $1 million.
Lawmakers approved it by a voice vote after several hours of discussion, a day after the lower house also passed the same bill.
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“This is an issue in which every parent, every family, and indeed every citizen of this country has a stake, because these young children are our greatest investment,” Jitendra Singh, a junior minister who has negotiated with the protesters, told the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of parliament.
The bill must now be signed into law by President Droupadi Murmu.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet greenlighted the stricter punishments last week.
The approval followed weeks of mass protests over leaked exam papers and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.
The protests, spearheaded by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, drew massive support from students across the country and presented a major challenge to Modi’s government.
Despite repeated government crackdowns, leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.
On Tuesday, according to local media, India’s federal investigative agency charged 13 people with a range of crimes relating to the leak of a national medical college entrance test earlier this year — a controversy that helped fuel the youth protests.
Demonstrations against the paper leaks in New Delhi turned violent on July 20 when huge crowds attempted to march towards parliament.
Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.
