UP: Students pass exam writing only religious slogans, cricketers' names
27 Apr 2024

As many as 18 first-year pharmacy students at Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal (VBSP) University in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly passed their exams by writing "Jai Shri Ram" and the names of Indian cricketers on their answer sheets.

This incident, which was exposed through a Right to Information (RTI) request, revealed that two professors of the university awarded 50% marks to the students, allegedly in exchange for money.

Former student leader submitted an affidavit
Swift action

Divyanshu Singh, a former student leader at VBSP University, filed the RTI in August last year.

Singh demanded that the answer sheets be re-evaluated and provided the pupils' roll numbers.

Upon reevaluation of the answer sheets, it was found that they were virtually empty, except for 'Jai Shree Ram' and names of cricketers like Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma.

As a result of these findings, the university promptly suspended two professors implicated in this scandal: Vinay Verma and Ashish Gupta.

VC Vandana Singh says students were awarded more marks
Official statement

In response to the allegations, Vice-Chancellor Vandana Singh stated, "There was an allegation that students have been given more marks. So we constituted a committee. That Committee in its report said that students have been awarded more marks."

She further clarified that she had not seen any answer sheet with 'Jai Shri Ram' but did review one where she found no relevant answers based on which marks could be awarded.