JEE Main 2023: What happens if you try to cheat? Know NTA rules

NEW DELHI: Session 1 of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main 2023), the third largest entrance exam of India, will begin tomorrow. The National Testing Agency (NTA) faced criticism after several reports on cheating, impersonation and irregularities marred the engineering entrance exam in the last two years. JEE Main 2023 January 25 Live Updates

To prevent cheating in the exam, the NTA has warned students that they may be debarred for 3 years in the future if found to have used unfair practices in the JEE Main 2023 exam. Those involved in cheating will also be “booked under the “Unfair Means” (UFM) case and shall also be liable for criminal action and /or any other action as deemed fit”.

"JEE Main 2023 results of such candidates will be cancelled. Similarly, the result of those candidates who appear from the centre other than the one allotted to them or allow another person to write the examination on his behalf will be cancelled. No plea will be entertained in this regard,” the NTA informed.

JEE Mains 2023: Unfair practices

The NTA defined unfair means as an activity that allows a candidate to gain an unfair advantage over other candidates. It considers the following practices as unfair.

• Being in possession of any item or article which has been prohibited or can be used for unfair practices including any stationery item, communication device, accessories, eatable items, ornaments, or any other material or information relevant or not relevant to the examination in the paper concerned.
• Someone else writing the NTA JEE Main 2023 exam instead of the candidate (impersonation) or preparing material for copying.
• Assisting other candidates to engage in malpractices, giving or receiving assistance of any kind directly or indirectly or attempting to do so.
• Breaching examination rules or any direction issued by NTA in connection with JEE 2023 examination.
• Contacting or communicating or trying to do so with any person, other than the examination staff, during the test in the exam centre.
• Threatening any of the officials connected with the conduct of the examination or threatening any of the candidates.
• Manipulation and fabrication of online documents such as JEE Main 2023 admit card, rank letter, self-declaration.
• Forceful entry and exit from JEE exam centre.
• Any other malpractices declared as Unfair Means by the NTA.
• Any candidate with more than one Application Number will be treated as UFM, even if found at a later stage, and strict action will be taken against that candidate.

JEE Main scam

The NTA debarred 20 candidates from taking exams for three years for cheating in 2021. The Central Board of Investigation (CBI) on October 3 last year detained a Russian hacker for allegedly tampering with the iLeon software, the platform on which the JEE Main 2021 exam was conducted, and helping the accused in hacking. However, the following month, a special court granted bail to Russian national Mikhail Shargen.

The alleged hacking had benefited over 800 JEE aspirants. The court granted bail stating that the Russian hacker’s role was not at par with other accused and because they did not find weight in the CBI's argument.

The CBI initial investigation found that at least one exam centre was compromised in the 4th session of JEE Main 2021 exam. The NTA conducted the JEE exam in four sessions in 2021 due academic loss faced by students during COVID-19 and to improve their scores.

Last year, students faced technical issues during JEE Main 2022 session 1 which led them to file a petition for another chance to appear in the exam. A Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala which heard the plea directed the NTA to permit 15 candidates to appear in the additional session scheduled on July 30, 2022.