'Eyewash, Not Reform': Congress Blasts PM's Paper Leak Courts Proposal

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday termed as an "eyewash" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement to set up fast-track courts to punish those involved in paper leaks and said it was an attempt to show responsiveness where there is none.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said his party's demands are clear -- "sack Mantri Pradhan; punish those who beat the students; apologise to the students."

Ramesh said the Modi government is trying its hardest to play up the PM's "midnight panic promise" of fast-track courts by law.

"Actually just this morning the Delhi High Court has constituted a new Fast-Track Court with immediate effect to hear cases under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. Fast-track courts can easily and clearly be set up under existing laws as well. The PM's promise is, as usual, hollow and only a headline-grabbing exercise," Ramesh alleged.

The Pradhan Mantri is only attempting to fool the youth, he alleged.

Ramesh said the fast-track courts work only when investigations themselves are thorough and time-bound and there is political will to see the investigations through.

"The Modi Government's 'niyat' (intentions) over the last 12 years has been clear -- to deny that paper leaks have occurred, and to suppress investigations.

"What else explains the following -- the Mantri Pradhan deliberately refused to use the word 'leak' for the NEET-UG 2026 exam in his press conference; the Education Ministry officially denied that a paper leak occurred in the NEET-UG 2026 exam to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education; the Modi government deliberately buried and denied the evidence of widespread irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 despite the extremely fishy clustering of exam toppers in a handful of test centers," he said.

The Modi Government finally acknowledged that the NEET exam of 2024 underwent what it called a 'selective leak' in Hazaribagh, he said.

But it has failed to bring justice to the perpetrators, Ramesh added.

"After calling Sanjeev Mukhiya the 'kingpin' of the leak, it is now claiming through the CBI that he is innocent. The CBI filed a closure report alleging that there was no paper leak in the UGC-NET examination of 2024, but has failed to provide any reasons for the same," he said.

"The fast-track courts are an eyewash, an attempt to show responsiveness where there is none," Ramesh said.

The Delhi High Court has notified a designated court to deal with criminal cases arising from paper leaks as well as the use of other unfair means in public examinations.

The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Thursday that fast-track courts would be set up to swiftly deal with cases of paper leaks.

Prime Minister Modi had said the welfare and interest of the country's youth are the government's top priority, and anyone trying to harm their future will not be spared.

Modi had said the government decided to set up fast-track courts to ensure swift and stringent punishment for those involved in paper leaks.