After the arrest of some medical students in the NEET question paper leak scam, a less highlighted fact has come to light. Those involved in this racket, trap, lure and even abduct innocent, gullible and disempowered yet bright and talented, students and at times even teachers to get their work done.
There are cases of such nice guys landing in serious trouble for crime committed under duress. Often, the students used for this purpose come from low-income groups and weaker sections of the society. Their poverty and helplessness are exploited by these criminal gangs, who enjoy the patronage of the ruling class and have the right political and bureaucratic connections.
It needs to be mentioned that there are thousands of private teachers working in coaching
institutes who can be easily lured because they are not well paid by the owners of these
teaching shops.
Those, whose help are forcibly sought come from the powerless section of the society and
cannot even approach the police out of the fear that they, instead of being bailed out from
this nexus, would be implicated.
Due to their young age, they do not even understand the implications of the crime they are forced to commit. They do not share their predicaments with their parents as they usually live in hostel or away from home.
Abducted and forced to solve question paper
During my journalistic career and later as a freelance reporter, I encountered a couple of such
‘victims’ of the scamsters who personally narrated their experience to me.
One such story is still vivid in my mind. This is about a very good engineering student of the National Institute of Technology, Patna, (formerly Bihar College of Engineering) who was abducted by some unidentified gang involved in paper leak while he was walking down to his home in Patna. This incident had happened more than two decades back when online examination system was not introduced anywhere in India.
While talking to me a couple of years after that incident–and by that time he had passed out from the engineering college–the said student, who was from a backward caste, narrated as to how one day a vehicle which came from behind stopped beside him. Somebody sternly told him to come and enter the jeep.
“I could not understand as to what was happening. I feared that they must be armed. I was forcibly pushed into the jeep,” he told me.
He said that those in the vehicle did not behave roughly, but after travelling for a few minutes he was blindfolded. They gently told him not to feel afraid as he would soon be released.
As this student was the topper of Civil Engineering branch of his class and was known as a studious chap, he was picked up by the exam paper leak gang. It was clear that the criminals had done their homework well and were aware of the student’s academic record along with the place where he resided.
The student told me that after travelling for a while the jeep stopped in a remote place outside Patna. Then he was taken to a room, and his blindfold was removed. He was given a question paper and answer sheets to solve. He was offered something to eat and drink.
“I was left with no other option, but to agree,” he then told me.
Later they once again blindfolded him and brought him back to Patna. His blindfold was once again removed and he was set free not very far away from his home.
This engineering graduate–now well placed–did not say whether he got any money or not. Nor did I ask much. But it appeared that he was abducted and no payment was made. Otherwise, he would not have shared this harrowing experience with me.
Before he was released, the gang members warned the student to not tell anyone about the incident, and that if he did, he should be ready for consequences. So, there was no question of reporting the student to police or anyone else.
Confession of a young doctor
This is not the only case of meritorious students being lifted and forced to solve leaked question papers or even impersonate other candidates in competitive examination. In another case narrated a decade back, a young doctor confessed before me as to how he was lured to solve the question of a medical entrance test about a quarter century back, when he was still a student.
Though he did not explain the whole chain of events, he was honest enough to acknowledge his crime before me on the plea that he was badly in need of money then as his father was not getting salary for months. He even took the name of a reputed coaching institute which had branches in several states and had earned notoriety for this unfair practice a couple of decades back.
Not to speak only of boys, even girl students are sometimes pressurised to impersonate
others. What is tragic is that they agree to do so for just a few thousands of rupees. A few years back two girls from Bihar, pursuing medical course, were caught impersonating for other girl candidates.
Sometimes even teachers face tough and testing times during such examination. As the authorities do not cooperate, they are compelled in one way or the other to become a party to the crime. They know that the lobby supporting the paper leak racket is very powerful, and so it is better to submit rather than avoid them.
Tracing the origin of question paper leaks
The history of the use of unfair means and copying in school and college examinations on a mass scale in Bihar can be traced back to 1967 when there was political instability which led to the students’ movement in Patna. That was not the era of competitive exam as admission in most professional institutions were made on the basis of marks obtained in ISC.
In 1972 the irregularities were temporarily checked when Kedar Pande became the chief minister of
the newly elected Congress government.
However, things took an ugly turn when the then Indira Gandhi government faced massive
students’ unrest in Gujarat, Bihar and several other states between December 1973 till
the day Emergency was imposed in 1975.
In a bid to counter the call for boycott of class and exam by Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan during his ‘Total Revolution’ days, the government openly encouraged unfair means and mass copying became the order of the day.
Examinees would go to their centres with bag full of books and notes. In fact, question papers and answer sheets were brought to home or hostel rooms and after filling them submitted to college
authorities in the evening.
Though this practice was once again checked after the imposition of Emergency on June 25, 1975, yet after the end of Emergency it was back to square one. Now, the phenomenon was not only restricted to graduate and under-graduate exams, as question paper leak became a common practice. Even at the height of the Emergency in 1976 the IIT had to cancel its admission test held in its Gaya centre reportedly on the plea that the question was leaked.
The Ranjit Don Phenomenon
So, when the Ranjit Don phenomenon took Bihar by storm in mid 1990s, there was not much
surprise as a sharp decline was being witnessed in the education system.
The advent of internet and subsequently of smart phone facilitated the growth of this racket which spread throughout India. Now, copying in school and college examinations is done as if it is a recreational activity.
Why talk about others. I was personally fooled by an English Honours student some 15
years ago. This young student got my landline phone number from somewhere.
This person would talk from his cell phone number from Madhepura (as he used to claim), a district town some 200 km away from Patna, where I live. I have never gone to this place nor have I seen this boy.
Yet he would often ring me after reading my article and praise me. Though I was not impressed by him heaping praises on me, yet I would encourage him–as I generally do with
youngsters.
In the process, he would often discuss something about current affairs, his career plan and would even ask meaning of some English words and idioms. After three or four such calls made in a few months he once rang me. As usual, he asked me something which was related to English Honours course. It was only then that I smelled rat.
“Why are you asking me this question. After all I did my Master in English some two decades back and am not too updated on the subject,” I told him to avoid the call.
He inadvertently disclosed that he was writing something. Suddenly, it struck me that he is an English Honours student and may be appearing in exam.
“Are you calling me from the exam hall?” I asked him. Thereafter, he disconnected the line, never to call me again. Since back then I had an old landline phone set, I could not jot down his phone number.
This was a relatively small incident in comparison to the NEET and NET examination
rackets. But lest we forget, all evil minds work in the same way.
Soroor Ahmed is a Patna-based freelance journalist.
