Jail Up to 10 Years, Rs 10-Crore Fine

for Exam Leaks: Cabinet Clears Tough New Law

Report By Trendz

New Delhi, July 25, 2026 — The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a draft Bill prescribing significantly stricter punishments for those involved in examination paper leaks, including a jail term of

up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 10 crore, as the government moved to respond to weeks of intense protest over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2026 examination.

The Cabinet's decision came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a late-night video message posted on social media on Thursday, announced that the government would bring "more strict actions against paper leaks" and had already directed officials to prepare the necessary legislative framework. The Bill amends the existing Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which was enacted in the aftermath of the 2024 NEET-UG and UGC-NET paper leak controversies.

Under the current law, those found to have committed offences with the consent or connivance of a director, senior management official, or person in charge of an examination service provider face a minimum of three years' imprisonment, extendable to 10 years, along with a fine of Rs 1 crore. The newly cleared Bill significantly raises both thresholds: the minimum jail term for those convicted in paper leak cases would rise from three years to five years, while the fine could go up to Rs 10 crore, sources familiar with the draft said. Final consultations on the legislation were reportedly still underway on Friday evening.

The Bill is expected to be introduced and taken up for passage in Parliament on Monday, July 27, during the ongoing Monsoon Session. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government would move swiftly on the legislation, noting that Modi had instructed officials "not to delay" the process. Rijiju also said the government remained ready to hold a full discussion on the paper leak issue on the floor of the House, and repeatedly appealed to opposition parties to allow parliamentary proceedings to continue rather than disrupting them, as had happened on each of the previous several sitting days.

The Cabinet's move follows a turbulent stretch in the capital, where the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has been leading sustained protests at Jantar Mantar over the NEET-UG paper leak, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, compensation for the families of students who died by suicide following exam cancellations, and the withdrawal of cases against peaceful protesters. The approval of the Bill came a day after Union ministers held direct talks with CJP representatives, following which CJP leaders said the government had sought time until Saturday afternoon to respond to the resignation demand, while offering "in-principle" agreement on the other two demands.

Despite the Cabinet clearance, the legislative push has not defused the standoff either in Parliament or on the streets. The Lok Sabha was adjourned repeatedly through the week as opposition MPs continued to rush to the Well of the House demanding Pradhan's resignation as a precondition for any discussion, marking the fifth consecutive day that proceedings were disrupted over the issue. Rijiju, addressing the House amid the commotion, argued that failing to hold a debate on the government's own terms would send the wrong message to the country, noting that both the Prime Minister and Sonam Wangchuk — who ended his 26-day hunger strike on Thursday — had called for exactly such a discussion.

Opposition leaders, however, have remained skeptical that a tougher law alone addresses the core of the crisis. Congress and other opposition parties have continued to insist that accountability for the alleged leaks must start with Pradhan's exit, arguing that legislative announcements made through video messages and Cabinet meetings sidestep parliamentary scrutiny. The government, for its part, has pointed to the existing law's track record, noting that several paper-leak gangs had already been apprehended under its provisions, and framing the new amendments as a further deterrent rather than an admission of the current framework's failure.

The stricter jail-term and fine structure mirrors provisions already enacted in several states over the past two years, including Rajasthan and Karnataka, both of which passed laws providing for up to 10 years in prison and fines as high as Rs 10 crore for exam-related offences, while Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have introduced comparable, if somewhat less severe, state-level legislation of their own. The Centre's proposed amendment would extend a similarly tough national-level framework specifically to federally administered examinations such as NEET-UG, at a moment when public pressure over repeated paper leaks — and the political cost of the ongoing Jantar Mantar protests — has become one of the most pressing challenges facing the Modi government during the current Parliament session.