Supreme Court lawyer and human rights activist Prashant Bhushan. file. | Photo credit: G Ramakrishna
The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on Thursday slammed Supreme Court lawyer and human rights activist Prashant Bhushan’s social media post about the paper leak, calling it “half-baked”.
Mr. Bhushan posted a 40-second video on his social media platform with the message: “Bihar Public Service Commission Chairman claims exam paper was not leaked because it was kept in a strong tamperproof envelope! That man should be sacked immediately!”
The 70th BPSC preliminary examination was held on December 13 at 912 centers across the state in which 3.28 lakh candidates appeared. On the day of the examination, the candidates staged a protest after rumors spread that the question paper had been leaked at Bapu Examination Center (BEC), a center in the state capital.
However, BPSC Chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai denied the rumors of paper leak by claiming that the examination was conducted peacefully in all 911 centers out of 912.
The 40-second video posted by Mr. Bhushan was divided into two parts. In the first part, Mr. Manubhai asked the journalist to try to tear the envelope containing the question paper saying it was unbearable and in the second part, the journalist tore the envelope.
In conversation with HinduRajesh Kumar Singh, Controller of Examinations of BPSC, stuck to the claim. “The commission does not want to go into the logic of what Mr. Bhushan said in his (social media) post but yes, we certainly want to explain the process of conducting the exam peacefully. The chairman had already given the clarification on December 13. What was seen in the video is not true, he was misinformed. “Yes,” said Mr. Singh.
He pointed out that 530,000 question papers have been printed, that is, about 45,000 such envelopes have been used, with different question papers placed in envelopes torn by journalists. Mr. Singh said that if the envelope is tampered with, the invigilator will not accept it and the question will be opened only by the examinee, and it will be sealed on three sides.
After the examination, the district judge’s office released a video in which it is clearly seen that some miscreants tried to snatch the question papers from the BEC examinees. Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh slapped one of the candidates while protesting at the center and some people also created ruckus. The police have registered a separate FIR against the protesting candidates. The Commission has also debarred 34 candidates who created problems from taking the exam in the future.
Mr. Singh added, “The question papers reached the examination center with more than 10 levels of security. The exam was conducted from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, students were allowed to enter from 9:30 am to 11:00 am, no one was allowed to enter after 11:00 am, because the question papers arrived at the center after 11:00 am, the mobile jammer was turned on and no one was allowed to enter. Take the mobile inside the center. How can students claim that the paper was leaked during the exam?”
A total of 12000 candidates appeared for the exam in BEC and re-examination will be held in this center only and the result will be declared simultaneously. Mr. Manubhai had clearly stated that he had not received any complaint of paper leakage from any centre.
The shipping of the question paper box is done in a container equipped with CCTV camera, one time lock system, GPS tracker and alphanumeric code lock. The question papers from the fund reach different examination centers. The question papers distributed are in different series.
published – December 20, 2024 at 04:40 pm IST