NEET: Why an exam has sparked national outrage in India

Surbhi Sharma, 23, who attempted the exam for the fifth time this year and scored 650 marks, alleges that paper leaks – rampant in India – are behind the fluctuations in scores.

She noted that despite a significant increase in high scorers (in the 650-680 mark range), there was no similar rise in mid-range scorers (610-640 marks).

“NTA officials have said that more candidates got high scores because the paper was easier this year. But if that was the case, everyone should had done better and not just a section of the candidates,” she claims.

Dr Vivek Pandey, an activist assisting candidates with related court petitions, supports her stance.

On 1 June, he helped file a Supreme Court petition where 10 students requested that they be allowed to retake NEET, alleging the question paper was leaked at exam centres in Patna, the capital of Bihar state.

The Bihar police launched an investigation into the allegations shortly after the exam was conducted. On 10 May, they announced the arrest of 13 people, including four students, in connection with a paper leak case.

On 15 June, the police sent notices to nine more students suspected of being involved in the case, and asked them to join the investigation.

Manavjit Singh Dhillon, a senior police official, told, external the Times of India newspaper that the 13 accused had allegedly leaked the question paper to 30 candidates in a “safe house” a day before the exam in exchange for hundreds of thousands of rupees.

He told, external PTI news agency separately that during the course of the investigation, officials had recovered post-dated cheques and partially burnt papers and that they had sought question papers from the NTA for reference.

Besides accusations of paper leaks, the exam has faced additional allegations of cheating and fraud.

Police have arrested three people in Delhi and six in Rajasthan for allegedly impersonating NEET candidates to write the exam on their behalf. In Gujarat state, police arrested five people for their alleged involvement in a cheating plot at an exam centre in Godhra.