The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a draft bill that proposes stringent penalties, including a jail term of up to 10 years and a maximum fine. ₹Rs 10 crore to those found guilty of leaking exam papers. HT has reported.
The bill comes amid a standoff between the Center and student and youth protesters mobilized by the cockroach Janata Party (CJP), whose protests over the competitive exam leak have escalated into widespread demonstrations across India. The movement has also called for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to step down, and there has been a police response to some demonstrations in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given indications in a social media post On Thursday, the Cabinet will consider the proposal, which is expected to set up fast-track courts and impose heavier penalties for those found guilty of leaking exam papers.
The draft proposes to amend the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 and is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
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Current 2024 law
The dedicated law against unfair means in public examinations, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, was passed by Parliament in February 2024 and enacted later that year following a series of paper leaks.
The law lists 15 acts that qualify as “unfair means” if done for monetary or wrongful gain. This ranges from leaking question papers and answer keys to sharing solutions with candidates in the middle of the exam, tampering with OMR sheets or the computer system conducting the test and manipulating seating arrangements or shift allocation.
The list also includes unauthorized possession of question papers, changes in evaluation outside genuine reforms, threatening examination authority personnel, setting up fake examination websites, and running fake tests or issuing fake admit cards to cheat candidates.
Conspiracy to enable any of these acts is in itself an offense under the law. So is entering the examination center with the intention of disrupting the proceedings or opening or revealing the question paper before the official time.
A specific head of crime – “organized crime” – targets coordinated efforts by individuals, groups or institutions who work together to game the public for unfair gain.
Service providers appointed to conduct examinations carry their own layer of liability: anyone acting on their behalf who assists a candidate without authorization is considered to be committing an offence, and is themselves in danger if the provider does not report incidents of misconduct.
Senior executives of such providers – directors, managers and other officers – face prosecution where an offense is shown to have been committed with their consent or connivance. But the Act offers a defense for those who can demonstrate that the offense occurred without their knowledge, and that they had taken reasonable steps to prevent it.
Every offense under the Act is classified as cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable, meaning it allows arrest without warrant, leaves the question of bail entirely to the courts, and disallows any private agreement between the parties.
Persons convicted of resorting to unfair means may face a jail term of three to five years and a maximum fine ₹10 lakhs. For service providers, financial penalty is prescribed ₹Rs 1 crore, plus a share of the cost of the examination in proportion to their role, will be recovered, and there will be a four-year disqualification from taking public examination work.
The penalty is increased when it is found that a director, senior manager or person of the service provider has consented to or connived at the commission of the offence: a prison sentence of three to 10 years. ₹1 crore fine.
For those convicted of organized crime under the Act – whether individuals, groups, or entities including examination authorities and service providers – the punishment increases to a prison term of between five and 10 years, and the fine cannot be less than ₹1 crore.
Institutions caught in organized crime cases additionally face confiscation and confiscation of their assets, and are liable to repay a proportionate share of the costs of the investigation.
The schedule of the Act covers UPSC, Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Boards, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, Central Government Ministries and their subordinate offices for recruitment of staff and the National Testing Agency, which conducts NEET-UG, JEE (Main), UGC-NET and CUET.
Candidates are not within its scope.
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What changes in the draft bill?
The Cabinet-approved draft, if implemented, will increase the minimum jail sentence for a person convicted of unfair means from three years to five years, while the maximum sentence for the same offense will be increased from five years to 10 years.
HT reported that the maximum fine will go up to ₹100 million.
Beyond the numbers, the amendment aims to limit the timeline of the entire process from investigation to verdict.
The draft, a copy of which has been seen by HT, proposes that every investigation under the Act should be completed within two months, regardless of whether it is being run by the local police, a central investigating agency, or a special task force – a new investigation route the Center proposes to be able to establish by notification, and which once constituted will take special charge of the case.
The draft also has a provision for setting up special fast track courts at the statutory level.
Each State and Union Territory shall designate a Court of Session in consultation with the High Court concerned to try offenses under the Act. The draft states that proceedings in such courts will run on a day-to-day basis, and the trial will be completed within three months from the date of the charge sheet.
States and Union Territories will also appoint special public prosecutors to conduct these cases.
The amendment is keeping candidates out of its purview.
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state laws
Many states have enacted their own anti-leakage laws, some before the central law and some since, with penalties that vary widely.
Andhra Pradesh was one of the earliest states to enact its Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractices and Unfair Means) Act in August 1997, which provides for a prison term of three to seven years and a fine. ₹5,000 more ₹1 lakh for both leaked and improper means. Haryana promulgates law setting minimum sentence of seven to 10 years’ imprisonment in September 2021 ₹Fine of Rs 10 lakh on leak.
Rajasthan’s 2022 law provides for five to 10 years of jail and fine. ₹10 lakh more ₹10 crores for leak and syndicate. Uttarakhand’s 2023 Act goes even further and provides for life imprisonment and fine. ₹Up to three years imprisonment and fine up to Rs 10 crore for leaks ₹Rs 5 lakh and examination ban of two to five years for unfair means; Gujarat’s 2023 law provides for a minimum jail term of seven to 10 years. ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore and imprisonment up to 10 years on leak ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore for unfair means. Jharkhand’s 2023 Act similarly allows up to life imprisonment and fine ₹Rs 10 crore for leak.
Odisha’s Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, enacted in February 2025, provides for three to 10 years’ jail and a fine. ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore and three to 10 years jail for leaking ₹Fine of Rs 10 lakh for unfair means.
Among the laws to come into effect in 2024, Assam’s act provides for five to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine ₹10 lakh more ₹Rs 10 crore for leak; Arunachal Pradesh allows up to five years and a ₹1 crore fine; Bihar law allows jail up to 10 years and fine ₹1 crore, whereas in Uttar Pradesh there is a provision of life imprisonment, confiscation of property and even fine. ₹1 crore; And Maharashtra, through its 1982 Malpractice Act and 2024 Competitive Examination Act, allows up to five years in jail and a ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore on leak.
Himachal Pradesh’s Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill was enacted in November 2025, which provides for punishment ranging from three to 10 years in jail and fine. ₹1 crore. Chhattisgarh’s law – the Prevention of Unfair Means in Lok Bharti and Professional Examinations Act – is the most recent, which came into effect in March 2026, carrying a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore and property confiscated for leak, and imprisonment up to three years ₹Fine of Rs 1 crore for unfair means.
