2017 HCS paper leak case: Delhi court sentences Punjab, Haryana HC ex-registrar to 5-year jail

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced a former registrar (recruitment) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to five years in jail in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch) Examination paper leak case. The judge said that in order to restore faith in process of examination, the issue of paper leaks has to be dealt with by effective implementation of specific stringent laws.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna sentenced Balwinder Kumar Sharma, the then Registrar (Recruitment), along with Sunita, the main accused in the case, to five-year imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on Sharma and a penalty of Rs 60,000 on Sunita.

"Paper leaks have far reaching consequences leading to detrimental effects on candidates. It creates an atmosphere of unrest, stress and anxiety among the students and affects their motivation to excel academically. "In a country, where unemployment remains a constant worry, paper leak menace adds to delay in recruitments adversely affecting the efficiency of government departments and administrative agencies, which are already dealing with the issue of less human resources," the judge said.

The judge further said that these days crime is committed through organized rackets comprising players from across the education sector, people involved in formulating question papers, coaching centres, consultants, hired agencies and printing presses.

"In order to restore the faith in the process of examination, the issue of paper leaks has to be dealt with by effective implementation of specific stringent laws," the judge said. The court said that the notification of Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, is a welcome step in this direction "but preventive measures against such malpractices must be put in place by introducing long term reforms". "The aim and objective must be to bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to public examinations," the judge said.

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The court, meanwhile, released the third convict Sushila on period already undergone during the trial, while imposing a fine of Rs 10,000. The court was hearing a case related to the leak of the question paper of the Haryana Civil Services (Judicial Branch) Preliminary Examination 2017. The FIR in the case was registered in September 2017 after the intervention of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The matter was later transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court in February 2021.

Haryana HCS Judicial paper leak

"The circumstances are incriminating in nature, form a complete chain and are consistent with the culpability of accused persons and inconsistent with their plea of innocence," the judge had concluded in its judgment convicting the three accused. The court said that Sharma was the most potential source from where the question paper could have leaked as he was having the possession of the question papers and had provided the same to Sunita.

"By virtue of his assignment as such, he was under solemn obligation to maintain the sanctity and integrity of the competitive exam. However, accused Balwinder Kumar Sharma provided the question paper to his close friend accused Sunita who got the benefit and secured highest marks," the judge said.

The judge also noted that since Sunita was associated with Sharma, she got the copy of the paper from him and had negotiated with the third accused Sushila and one other candidate Suman, who later filed the complaint alleging paper leak, to share the question paper on a payment of Rs 10 lakh.

"This cannot be taken as co-incidence that the candidate in close relationship with Registrar (Recruitment) tops the examination. The detailed vigilance enquiry also resulted in findings against accused Sunita, Balwinder Kumar Sharma and Sushila," the court said.