A day after Bihar’s Education Minister P.K. Shahi said that freeing Board examinations of cheating was impossible in the State without support from society, the Patna High Court observed on Friday that the Minister’s statement was “unfortunate and shameful.”
A senior lawyer drew the attention of a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and Justice Vikas Jain, towards news reports of the large-scale malpractice in the examinations held on Thursday and the Minister expressing helplessness in checking it. The court converted the reports into a public interest litigation petition.
“The court further directed State Police Chief P.K. Thakur to ensure fair examination across the State,” Basant Kumar Chaudhury, the lawyer, told The Hindu. Later, the court issued summons to Education Department officials for March 27, the next date of hearing.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the Minister’s statement published in newspapers, the full Bench of the State Human Rights Commission directed all divisional commissioners and senior police and administrative officials of the districts to show zero tolerance to copying. The panel asked officials to file a report within 10 days.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar directed top officials to take steps to ensure fair examinations. “Action will be taken against policemen and magistrates on examination duty if they were found abetting cheating,” Mr. Kumar said after a review meeting with Mr. Shahi and top officials.
Following the Chief Minister’s directive, the Education Department cancelled Thursday’s examination held at four centres. “Use of unfair means will be checked at all centres at all costs,” said R.K. Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Education Department.
IANS adds:
Eight Home Guard personnel were arrested on Friday on charges of helping students cheat in the Class 10 board examination in Bihar’s Saharsa district, officials said.
It was the first such form of action taken amid widespread reports of mass cheating across the state. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), which is conducting the exercise, has cancelled examinations at four centres where cases of cheating were reported on a large scale. “The Home Guards were deployed at different examination centres to ensure free and fair exam but they were found helping students in copying and cheating,” an official said in Saharsa, 210 km from here.
According to officials, the men had allowed students to cheat in exchange for money. In the last three days, TV news channels have shown police officials accepting money from students and permitting them to cheat in examination centres. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that action would be taken against all those who allowed mass copying.
More than 1.4 million students are appearing in the Class 10 board examination. Some students caught cheating have been expelled, said Lalkeshwar Prasad, chairman of the BSEB.
