India: Lawmakers endorse tough exam leak bill after Cockroach protests

India: Lawmakers endorse tough exam leak bill after protests July 31, 2026India's parliament has cleared a bill to update the country's anti-paper leak law by introducing tougher penalties to for cheating and leaking questions in public examinations. The move comes after youth-led protests — led by India's Cockroach movement — gripped the nation and forced the country's education minister to quit over repeated alleged irregularities in major exams. Rajya Sabha — the upper house of the Indian parliament — passed the The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 late Thursday evening, a day after it was cleared by the lower house or the Lok Sabha. The bill now needs the assent of President Droupadi Murmu before it can become law. "This is an issue in which every parent, every family, and indeed every citizen of this country has a stake, because these young children are our greatest investment," Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh, who was among the government's negotiators with the student protesters, told the Rajya Sabha. What does the bill propose? The key provisions of the amendment bill include: - Jail terms of between five and ten years for those involved in paper leaks or exam cheating, up from the current provision of three to five years - A maximum fine for individuals to be increased by a factor of five, reaching Rs. 50 lakh (cca €45,540, $52,440) - A minimum sentence of seven years for organized exam-related crime, up from the current five years, and a fine of over $1 million - Central government can now create a special task force to investigate paper leaks and examination-related offences - State governments and Union Territory administrations can now declare any court to be a special fast-track court for trials related to these offenses - The bill also defines a timeline for these trials; they are to be complete within three months from the date of filing of the chargesheet Opposition walks out as Rajya Sabha clears anti-paper leak amendment bill The opposition has dubbed the anti-paper leak amendment bill a "cosmetic exercise" by the ruling government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Thursday, opposition lawmakers walked out of the Rajya Sabha before the bill was passed. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, alleged that the Modi government introduced the amendment to pacify the country's agitating youth and not to address the issue of examinations. "We welcome this Amendment Bill. But it is still incomplete," Kharge said. "It strengthens the action taken after a paper leak occurs, but there is no robust system in it to prevent paper leaks from happening in the first place," he added. Kharge raised demands for a fixed annual examination calendar and also called for a "National Youth Employment Strategy." Modi hails amendment to anti-paper leak bill Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a late night video message following the vote, saying that the bill makes the country's examination system "more robust." He described gangs leaking exam papers as "paper mafias" and said that those putting the future of India's students in jeopardy "will not be spared." Modi's cabinet had given a go-ahead to the stricter penalties last week after protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) shook the government. India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was forced to resign on Saturday. Edited by: Darko Janjevic Don't let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google by clicking here and hitting the "star" or "preferred" button, so you'll always see our verified news first.