As soon as the examination started, the reports of a “paper leak” started going viral on social media.
NEET UG 2024 Paper Leak: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday strongly denied the reports claiming that the question paper in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG has been leaked. The NTA termed the allegations as “completely baseless and without any ground” as the agency stressed that every question paper has been accounted for and the purported images of the question paper circulating on social media have no relation with the actual paper.
“It has been ascertained from NTA’s security protocols and Standard Operating Procedures that the social media posts pointing towards any paper leak are completely baseless and without any ground. To put rumours to rest, it is also stated that every single question paper has been accounted for,” said Sadhana Parashar, Senior Director, NTA.
“No external person or agency can access the centres once the examination starts,” said Sadhana Parashar adding that after the gates of the examination centres are closed, no one from outside is permitted access inside the halls, which are under CCTV surveillance.
“All other photographs of question papers circulating in social media have no relation to the actual examination question paper which has been administered,” said Parashar.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 Exam was conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Sunday, May 5, from 2 pm to 5:20 pm at 4,750 centres in 557 cities across India and 14 cities out of India.
As soon as the examination started, the reports of a “paper leak” started going viral on social media which the NTA denied right then.
The NTA had on Sunday claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper.
“The integrity of the examination process was not compromised. The exam was later reconducted for the 120 affected candidates at the centre,” Parashar had said on Sunday.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also raised the issue.
She posted on X: “Once again, there are reports of NEET paper leak. The future of 24 lakh youth of the country has been messed up again. This trend that has been going on with crores of promising youth for the last ten years is not stopping.
“Will the Prime Minister of the country say anything about this? To pacify the youth, a law was passed in the Parliament against paper leak. Where is that law? Why is it not implemented?”
एक बार फिर से NEET का पेपर लीक होने की खबरें आ रही हैं। देश के 24 लाख युवाओं के भविष्य के साथ फिर से खिलवाड़ हुआ। पिछले दस बरसों से करोड़ों होनहार युवाओं के साथ चल रहा यह सिलसिला बंद होने का नाम नहीं ले रहा है। क्या देश के प्रधानमंत्री इस पर कुछ कहेंगे? युवाओं को बहलाने के लिए…
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 6, 2024
The NTA, however, admitted that there have been cases of malpractice and impersonation and strict action has been taken against the involved candidates.
“NTA also conducts post-exam data analysis to detect cases of unfair means, action on which is taken as per rules including cancellation of candidature and debarment from future examinations,” said an official.
(With PTI inputs)