New Delhi/Jhajjar: Assistant Police Inspector Mahavir Singh, posted at Bahadurgarh city police station, has no idea that Hardayal Public School, located a short distance from his police station, is in the news these days. Another policeman working on a computer next to him is just as clueless.
It is alleged that the biggest centre of irregularities in the the NEET-UG exam for admission in government medical colleges across the country is the Hardayal Public School, at Jhajjar in Haryana. More than 500 students appeared for the exam at this centre. Out of them, six candidates got 720 out of 720 – full marks. Apart from this, two candidates got 718 and 719 marks each – a figure which was pointed out to be mathematically impossible until the NTA claimed to have assigned ‘grace marks’ to some students. It has now cancelled these grace marks.
The BJP had cited in its Lok Sabha election manifesto titled ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ that it will take concrete steps to prevent paper leaks and other irregularities in examinations if it comes to power. The Union government had passed a law in February this year to prevent paper leaks, under which there is a provision for strict action against those accused of tampering in public examinations. Four months later, a day ago, this law was implemented.
The Modi government has made many claims about preventing irregularities in examinations. During the Rajasthan assembly elections held in 2023, Narendra Modi had cornered the Congress government of Rajasthan over paper leaks.
The NEET scam is undoubtedly big and has stirred the country. But The Wire found that far from an investigation into the multiple toppers, no report on these incredible figures has yet been registered at the Jhajjar police post or nearby police station. The police also do not have any specific information about this. When The Wire contacted Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner Shakti Singh, he refused to comment.
This examination centre is just 50 kilometres away from Delhi. But that is not the only connection it has to the corridors of power.
Also read: A Score of 711 Out of 720 and a Dream Diminished: The NEET Story in Jhajjar
Who owns Hardayal School?
According to the website of Hardayal School, it was established in 1995. The president of the school is Anuradha Yadav. According to locals, her family has significant influence in Bahadurgarh.
Notably, Anuradha Yadav’s nephew Shekhar Yadav is the Jhajjar district president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. His Facebook profile shows that he is close to former BJP MP from Rohtak, Arvind Sharma. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shekhar campaigned for Arvind Sharma. Local people claim that Shekhar Yadav is eager to contest the upcoming assembly elections from Haryana on a BJP ticket.
Shekhar Yadav. Photo: Facebook/BJP.
In a conversation with The Wire, Shekhar Yadav said, “If the organisation wants, I will contest the assembly elections… I am also trying (to get the ticket) at my end.”
When asked about the involvement of Hardayal Public School in the alleged scam, Yadav said, “The school belongs to our family. But it has no role in what you are talking about.”
“The school belongs to the family but I am not a part of the school,” he added. “Our family has several businesses. But I have no role in the school.”
Shekhar Yadav’s wife Neha Yadav is also associated with the BJP. News related to them is often published in local newspapers. In 2022, Neha reportedly distributed pamphlets calling herself the future BJP candidate for the post of president of Bahadurgarh Municipal Council, and had also promoted policies and achievements of the BJP. But she did not get a ticket from the BJP.
Anuradha Yadav, who is the president of Hardayal Public School, was also seen distributing BJP pamphlets and promoting the party, pictures of which are still available on social media.
Anuradha Yadav in the red circle (Photo: Facebook/Shekhar Yadav), Hardayal Public School (Photo: Ankit Raj/The Wire) and BJP leader Shekhar Yadav (Photo: Facebook/Shekhar Yadav)
The Wire reached Anuradha Yadav’s house for her comments, but she refused to speak to us.
What happened at the Jhajjar examination centre?
The 2024 NEET exam was conducted for the first time in Jhajjar. Three schools of the district – Hardayal Public School, Vijaya Senior Secondary School and SR Century Public School – were made examination centres.
The examination was conducted smoothly at SR Century Secondary School. However, the students at Hardayal and Vijaya schools were given question papers which were different from the ones handed to students across the country.
Question papers for important examinations like NEET are usually kept in public sector banks for security. There were two sets of question papers for the centres in Jhajjar. One was kept at a State Bank of India branch and the other at a Canara Bank branch.
Two sets of question papers are usually kept in hand at examination centres – including a backup which is used in case of paper leaks. But at both these centres, question papers of both sets had been distributed to the students. On discovering the mistake, the examination centre personnel took back the SBI Bank set from the students who got them and gave them all Canara Bank set instead. Meanwhile, in the rest of the country – apart from these two centres – candidates were answering the SBI set of question papers.
According to the students, due to the error in the distribution of the question paper, a lot of time was wasted.
The students also claimed that the Canara Bank question paper was more difficult than the SBI question paper.
On what basis were the grace marks given?
Usually only one or two students are able to score full marks in a NEET exam. 2021 was the only year when three students got full marks. But as mentioned above, this year, six candidates who appeared for the exam at Hardayal Public School scored the full marks, and two students scored 719 and 718 marks each.
A total of 1,563 candidates across the country were given grace marks for their loss of time. It is noteworthy that all the six candidates who scored full marks at Hardayal Public School were given grace marks, as were the two students who scored 719 and 718 marks.
Taking a dig at the results, a student who appeared for the exam at SR Century Public School centre in Jhajjar told The Wire, “How could I have topped when my centre was not Hardayal (School)?”
The National Testing Agency said that due to loss of time at the exam centres, grace marks were given to those students who had applied to NTA. But as many have pointed out, in an offline exam, how did the NTA find out how much time of a student was wasted?
Candidates also told The Wire that time was lost at both Hardayal and Vijaya Senior Secondary Schools, but grace marks were given only to students giving the exam at Hardayal School. However, not all Hardayal students were given grace marks even though all the students had lost an equal amount of time.
A biology teacher at a coaching centre in Jhajjar told The Wire, “NTA says that it gave grace marks only to those who filed the application. But why? Time of all the students at one centre got wasted. What about those students who thought that everyone would be treated equally?”
“When NTA came to know that all the students suffered a time loss at an entire centre, why did it not treat all the children equally?” he further asked.
On June 13, 2024, while hearing the petitions related to NEET, the Union government told the Supreme Court that the grace marks of all students would be cancelled. The NTA will conduct a re-examination among the 1,563 students who got grace marks and wish to sit for another test, by June 23 and will declare the results before June 30.
Translated from the Hindi original by Naushin Rehman.
