Ruckus in Jharkhand Assembly over bill to prevent paper leak, cheating in competitive exams

Ranchi: Amid the report that Jharkhand government will be introducing Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Prevention and Redressal of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023, in the state assembly, opposition MLAs created ruckus in the House.

The bill, Jharkhand Competitive Examination (Prevention and Redressal of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill, 2023, aims at preventing paper leak and cheating in competitive examinations. In the bill, there is a provision of three years’ life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 crore for those found guilty of paper leak and cheating.

Bharatiya Janata Party and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) party have termed the bill as ‘the dreaded law of the British rule’.

The Jharkhand government is preparing to pass this bill in the current monsoon session of the assembly. Its draft was approved by the cabinet recently.

BJP state President and Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly, Babulal Marandi, said “The Hemant Soren government has brought a more dangerous law than the British in the name of Jharkhand Competitive Examination Bill, 2023. Its provisions are more powerful and dangerous than Sedition, POCSO, SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act.”

He said, “If this bill becomes a law, candidates raising questions on recruitment examinations will be banned for 10 years. Provision is being made in the bill that any officer may enter and search any building, place, vessel, aircraft or vehicle which he suspects. Not only this, no preliminary inquiry will be required for FIR against any such person. Anyone can be arrested without investigation. If once the Jharkhand Competitive Examination Bill, 2023 is implemented, then no examinee will be able to raise any voice against the government.”

Marandi said, “The Bharatiya Janata Party will oppose this law. It has been brought to send students to jail, it will destroy their career. Corrupt and unscrupulous officers will enter someone's house with a sense of revenge by being used as a political tool under the cover of this bad law and will pick anyone up and send them to jail.”

“Hemant Soren has brought this ‘black law’ to suppress the voice, anger and discontent of the public rising against him. The people of Jharkhand are intelligent. I appeal to the people to strongly oppose this black law,” he alleged.

AJSU Party President Sudesh Mahto said, “The kind of law the government wants to enact in the name of stopping malpractices in the examination, it is clear that it wants to suppress the voice of the students. We will hit the streets against it. We will not allow the voice of the youth to be suppressed through ‘lathi’ and handcuffs.”

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pradip Yadav, a partner in the Jharkhand government, said “In this bill, there is a need to change the provisions of harsh punishment against those accused of misconduct. I will talk to the government on this issue.”