LIVE: LS discusses anti-paper leak Bill; CJP warns of fresh protest
The NEET paper leak controversy dominated Lok Sabha proceedings on Tuesday, with Opposition leaders targeting the government during the debate on the anti-paper leak Bill
Ending a week-long logjam, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (July 28) began a discussion on the anti-paper leak Bill, with Union minister Jitendra Singh describing it as a reaffirmation of the government's commitment to safeguard the welfare of students and the youth.
Speaking on the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, the minister of state in the PMO said the Modi government finished an unaccomplished task to bring a law to prevent examination malpractices in 2024.
Also read: How India's new anti-paper leak law can improve its exam structure
"Incidents of paper leaks have taken place in various states ruled by different parties... The anti-paper leak bill is a reaffirmation of the government's commitment to safeguard the welfare of students and youth. The amendment... (is being) brought to make the law more stringent," Singh said.
The Opposition has been raking up the NEET paper leak issue since the Monsoon session began on July 20. As a result, no legislative business could be taken up in Lok Sabha until Monday, except for the introduction of two bills.
Singh introduced the Bill on Monday, days after student protests over the NEET fiasco led to Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation as education minister. The legislation provides for stricter punishment of up to 10 years in jail and a heftier fine of Rs 50 lakh for paper leaks.
Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Tuesday warned of launching a fresh nationwide agitation if the government failed to honour its commitment to withdraw FIRs against protesters and prevent any punitive action, alleging that the Supreme Court's recent interim order could be used to target students.
Scroll below for Live updates.
Live Updates
- 29 July 2026 6:47 AM IST
Bengal govt not to take coercive action against students protesting NEET paper leak
The West Bengal government on Tuesday announced that no coercive measures would be taken against students participating in protests over the NEET paper leak, while clarifying that the protection would not apply to persons with criminal antecedents.
In a statement issued by the Home and Hill Affairs Department, the government said the decision was taken after examining all aspects of the case and in view of the Supreme Court's order passed on July 28.
Leftist student organisations held a rally against the NEET paper leak in the city on Friday. Several journalists were injured when some people attacked them during the march from Sealdah station to Esplanade in central Kolkata.
One case had been registered in the state till 6 pm on July 26 on a police complaint in connection with the protests over the alleged NEET-UG irregularities. Sixteen people have been arrested in connection with the case, it stated.
Provisions of the newly legislated stringent Goonda Act have been applied against the arrested people. A court on Tuesday granted bail to the accused after initially remanding them to two days of judicial custody.
"After due consideration, the government has decided that no coercive measures shall be taken against the students participating in the protests relating to the alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) Examination," the statement said.
- 29 July 2026 6:47 AM IST
Govt bill not enough, focus must be on preventing paper leaks: Tharoor
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said the bill brought by the government to tackle paper leaks was "not enough" and asserted that the ambition cannot simply be to punish a leak more severely, but to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Participating in the debate on The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill-2026 in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor called for a comprehensive reform of India's examination architecture and said the country must move away from the current "single, high-stakes, high-stress, examination model, where the future of millions is decided in a few gruelling hours".
"The success of this law should not ultimately be measured by the number of people we send to prison. It should be measured by the number of paper leaks that never happen," he said.
"It should be measured by examinations that take place on time, results that students can trust, and institutions that accept responsibility. More importantly, it should be measured by whether a young Indian can walk into an examination hall believing one simple thing is true: that nobody has bought an advantage that they have spent years working to earn," Tharoor said.
All students were asking of the government was a fair examination where their performance alone decided their future, he said.
"When a question paper is leaked, therefore, what is stolen is the value of somebody's hard work. Your bill introduces all sorts of punishments; 10 years imprisonment, Rs 10 crore fines... if somebody makes a business out of selling the futures of our children, yes, the law must come down heavily on them. But, punishment begins after the damage has already been done. By the time we arrest the person who leaked a NEET paper, lakhs of students have already suffered," he said.
"Our ambition cannot simply be to punish a paper leak more severely, but it must be to prevent it from happening," he asserted.
- 28 July 2026 9:50 PM IST
No paper leak in Punjab, BJP defaming Punjabis for political gains: CM Mann
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday claimed that there has been no paper leak under his government and accused the BJP of trying to defame Punjabis for its own political gains.
Addressing the media in New Delhi after meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the Parliament complex, Mann said the BJP is making "false allegations" about paper leaks to defame Punjabis and warned that this will cost them dearly.
He also met some opposition MPs during his visit to Parliament House, including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
The chief minister said the BJP should "stop maligning Punjabis" for political gains and fight its political battle with him instead.
- 28 July 2026 9:45 PM IST
CJP on Kangana: 'Her own party members don't take her seriously'
CJP spokesperson Saurav Das reacts to BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's remarks on Gen Z protesters.
- 28 July 2026 9:38 PM IST
NEET UG Paper leak case: CBI files charge sheet against 13 accused
CBI files charge sheet in NEET exam paper leak case.
- 28 July 2026 9:01 PM IST
Kolkata court grants bail to 18 in NEET-protest violence case after initially remanding them
A Kolkata court on Tuesday granted bail to 18 people, after initially remanding them to two days of judicial custody, who were arrested in connection with violence during a NEET paper leak protest by the Left students' organisations.
Several journalists were injured when some people attacked them during the march from Sealdah station to Esplanade in central Kolkata on July 24.
The court granted bail to all 18 people arrested in connection with violence during the NEET paper leak protest by the Left students' organisations.
Sixteen were arrested earlier, while two others were apprehended by the police on Monday.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court had earlier in the day remanded the arrested persons in connection with violence during a NEET paper leak protest by the Left students' organisations to judicial custody till July 30.
- 28 July 2026 8:58 PM IST
PM Modi's post removed briefly on Facebook; Meta apologises but govt says explanation not adequate
The government on Tuesday summoned Meta's public policy head after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post of July 23 - addressing India's youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks - was briefly restricted by the US-headquartered social media giant.
IT Secretary S Krishnan said that while Meta has apologised and admitted they made a mistake, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) is not happy with the explanation given and is seeking more details from the company.
"It is good that they have apologised and admitted what they did was a mistake. But we are not happy with the explanation...it is not adequate and we are seeking more details," Krishnan said.
- 28 July 2026 8:33 PM IST
Stop witch-hunting or CJP protest will be back: Dipke
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has posted on X, “If the harassment of students at the hands of the police continues, the Cockroach Janta Party will respond with a massive peaceful protest soon. The Govt must stop targeting and witch-hunting students.” - 28 July 2026 8:26 PM IST
CPM MP files petition in SC against use of facial recognition against CJP protesters
Can the police subject people attending a peaceful protest to facial recognition and biometric surveillance without a law specifically authorising it? A PIL filed in the Supreme Court by CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim argues they cannot.
The Article 32 petition challenges the Delhi Police’s alleged use of facial recognition technology (FRT) and allied biometric systems during the protest at Jantar Mantar led by the Cockroach Janta Party and student and youth organisations.
Rahim has asked the Supreme Court to declare such indiscriminate surveillance unconstitutional and restrain the authorities from deploying FRT and allied biometric measures against participants in peaceful assemblies until Parliament enacts a law authorising their use.
The petition alleges that since the protest began on June 20, thousands of protesters, journalists and ordinary citizens have been subjected to continuous biometric surveillance. It says the police used CCTV cameras, drones, a Mobile Command and Control Vehicle, handheld devices and other equipment to capture footage, which was then subjected to real-time facial recognition.
The surveillance architecture, according to the petition, included the ‘Ikshana’ mobile surveillance vehicle and AjnaLens smart spectacles. It also alleges that fingerprints were collected through the National Crime Records Bureau’s ‘Abhigyan’ mobile application and matched against the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS).
The core legal argument is that there is no valid law empowering the police to capture and process the biometric information of people merely because they are attending a lawful assembly.
The petition argues that neither Delhi Police standing orders nor the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 authorises such blanket surveillance. It points out that the 2022 law permits the collection of specified measurements from categories such as persons arrested or convicted of offences, but does not empower the police to collect biometric data from members of the public attending a peaceful protest.
Rahim’s petition invokes Articles 14, 19 and 21, relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s privacy jurisprudence in K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India. It argues that any State intrusion into privacy must satisfy legality, a legitimate aim and proportionality, including the requirement that the least restrictive alternative be used.
The petitioner contends that blanket facial recognition also has a chilling effect on the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. The petition says protesters have been deterred from participating freely because of fears that their identities could be captured, profiled or linked to criminal databases.
It further argues that the surveillance was unnecessary because conventional policing measures, including barricading, access control, Rapid Action Force deployment and ordinary video monitoring, were already in place. There was therefore no justification, the petition says, for the more intrusive step of biometric identification of every person at the protest.
The petition also raises questions over data retention and private-sector access. It alleges that no clear safeguards, retention schedule or accountability mechanism has been disclosed and seeks details of arrangements with private technology vendors involved in the surveillance.
Rahim has sought directions to stop such surveillance of peaceful assemblies until a valid statutory framework is enacted, along with safeguards governing collection, processing, retention and sharing of biometric data.
- 28 July 2026 7:56 PM IST
CJP concerned over SC order, urges govt to fulfil commitments, warns of fresh protests
CJP Chief Spokesperson Saurav Das issues a statement, saying that an interim order passed by the Supreme Court in the batch of PILs related to the CJP protest “permits governments to proceed with existing FIRs and carry out investigations”, which is “in direct contradiction to the solemn assurance and guarantee” extended by the government on July 25, “that the FIRs would be withdrawn and that no protester would be directly or indirectly targeted for participating in the peaceful movement”.
He added, “We now have a credible apprehension that the Government of India and BJP-ruled states may seek to use and weaponise this order … to continue FIRs against individual protesters and subject them to great harassment…
“The court's uninformed order is therefore wholly unacceptable…. The Government must not invoke the Court’s order as a justification for reneging on the commitment it made on 25 July.
“We therefore demand that the Government of India and the concerned BJP/NDA State Governments immediately place the terms of this solemn assurance before the Supreme Court in the pending proceedings so that there is complete transparency regarding the commitments … so that the court can withdraw and make an informed order in the future.
“The deadline for the Government of India to honour its guarantees expires today. We once again call upon it to fulfil every commitment it made: withdraw the FIRs, ensure that no protester is subjected to future punitive action, and honour both the letter and the spirit of the assurance that brought an end to the protest.
“Failing this, and as previously declared, the Cockroach Janta Party will have no option but to resume its nationwide protest to protect the students and young protesters who stood up not for themselves alone, but for the future of this nation. A government that breaks its word cannot expect the youth to remain silent. If the guarantees are dishonoured, the streets of India will once again become the voice of its young.”
