UP Board Changes Biology Question to Ensure 'Fair' Exams, 3 Journalists Arrested for Reporting English Exam Leak

Days after the Uttar Pradesh Board class 12 English examination was leaked. The State education department has now announced that it will re-issue question papers for biology exams. In a recently issued notice, the board has claimed that in a bid to fair exams new papers are being issued and old papers for the subject will be called back.

Agra police on Monday arrested four people who posing as magistrates and sought to inspect a secure room where question papers of Uttar Pradesh board examinations for classes 10 and 12 were kept, as reported by news agency PTI. The four reached an examination centre in Agra in an SUV.

In Bareilly, an LLB student was arrested for appearing in a school board examination on behalf of a candidate. Two other such “solvers” managed to give authorities the slip. Police have registered a case against the three “solvers”.

This comes after the Uttar Pradesh Board class 12 English question paper was leaked. Following this, the class 12 exam which was scheduled to be held on March 30 was canceled in 24 districts. Days after this incident, on Monday, the UP police arrested three local journalists who broke the news of reported the exam leak.

The journalists in question are affiliated with a Hindi daily called Amar Ujala. The news of the journalists’ arrest came out after one of the journalists in question issued a statement about their arrest on social media. The UP police action in this incident has received criticism from different walks of life. Several people, including many journalists, also held protests against the police action, outside the Ballia police station.

In a recent update in the case, Ballia Police on Sunday claimed that they have arrested the “mastermind” in the paper leak case. The arrested accused Nirbhay Narayan Singh is the manager of a private college, said the Police and he allegedly had leaked the Uttar Pradesh state board’s Class 12 English question paper.

As per media report, the accused allegedly got the question paper printed outside and later got it solved by two English teachers. Singh later sold the copies of the solved question paper for Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per student.

Earlier, the DIOS Ballia Brajesh Mishra was suspended in the case.  Also, the investigation of the case has been handed over to the STF, after which the STF Varanasi unit has also left for Ballia to investigate the matter.

Brajesh Mishra, DIOS Ballia, has been in controversy and has been accused of corruption earlier also. Apart from this, Brajesh Mishra was accused of getting his wife appointed to the post of assistant teacher by ignoring the rules. Now when the matter of paper leak came to light from Ballia, questions have also been raised on the continuous posting of Brajesh Mishra, reported News18.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh has given notice in Rajya Sabha to raise questions over the arrest of journalists in the case. The canceled exam will be conducted again amid strict anti-cheating measures, however, the new dates for the exam are yet to be out. The statement had come after over 4.18 lakh students both of class 10 and class 12 skipped the UP Boards exams on the very first day.

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