The Lok Sabha on 29 July passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, following a marathon debate marked by sharp clashes between treasury and opposition benches over a police crackdown on student demonstrators. The bill, introduced a day later in the Rajya Sabha, is the government’s legislative response to weeks of youth-led protests after the leak of the NEET medical entrance examination. Activists claim that more than 20 students died by suicide this year, with their families blaming the scandal, and the unrest forced the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on 25 July. Opposition members, led by the Indian National Congress, had earlier disrupted a scheduled first reading on 27 July, demanding that the government first account for police actions during the protests.

The amendment significantly stiffens penalties for examination malpractices. Individuals convicted of cheating face five to ten years’ imprisonment and fines of up to ₹50 lakh, while organised crime networks behind paper leaks can be fined up to ₹10 crore, according to the bill’s provisions. Service providers abetting unfair practices may be debarred for up to eight years, and the central government is empowered to set up a special task force to investigate offences. The legislation also requires every state and union territory to designate a sessions court as a special fast-track court, with investigations to be completed within two months and trials concluded within three months of filing a charge sheet.

However, analysts have raised concerns about the feasibility of these time-bound procedures. A PRS Legislative Research analysis notes that similar deadlines in other laws, such as the POCSO Act and the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, have resulted in extensive backlogs, with more than 40 per cent of cases pending investigation for over six months in 2024. As of April 2026, 775 fast-track special courts were already burdened with over 2.45 lakh pending cases. Separately, Rylen Anil, a Dubai-based student who identified security flaws in India’s examination portals, cautioned that legislation alone is insufficient and urged regular vulnerability assessments and stronger cybersecurity. The government has concurrently appointed a task force led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to overhaul the National Testing Agency and is exploring a shift to computer-based testing, though the Supreme Court has warned that technology alone will not eliminate the risk of paper leaks.

Introducing the bill in the upper house, Union minister Jitendra Singh framed it as the completion of a reform first proposed in 1992, when Congress was in power, and noted that the National Testing Agency itself was created only under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. The bill now awaits debate and a vote in the Rajya Sabha. It revives and strengthens a 2024 anti-cheating law, and its passage would mark the latest step in a wider overhaul prompted by the NEET scandal, which also saw the appointment of Pralhad Joshi as the new education minister.