A matter of suspected leakage of examination questions using Whatsapp has come to light in Delhi University after some students of an affiliated college were allegedly caught with images of a biology test paper on their smartphones.
Six students of Sri Guru Tegbahadur Khalsa college were yesterday caught on college premises with images of the question paper in their phones even as the biology examination was underway.
"The invigilators spotted the students outside the examination room using mobile phones. Upon checking it was found they had images of the question paper on Whatsapp," said an invigilator on duty who did not wish to be named.
Whatsapp is an internet-messaging application.
"We reported the matter to police and to DU's central examination branch. It is a matter of use of unfair means. We believe in fair and transparent conduct of examinations," said Dr Jaswinder Singh, Principal of SGTB Khalsa College.
Singh, however, refused to comment on whether or not the test would be conducted afresh.
"Apparently, the students circulated the paper after the examination had begun. Any student can leave the examination room after an hour's time. The unfair means committee of DU will take a call on the matter," he said.
Meanwhile, an official at Maurice Nagar police station said they had received a complaint in this regard, "but no FIR has been registered".
DU authorities, however, maintained that it is the college's internal matter and they are free to take any action over it.
"It is not a matter under DU's prerogative, but one between the college and its students. The college is free to conduct its own investigation and act as it deems fit.
"DU wants to uphold the highest standard of examination and has a zero-tolerance policy towards use of unfair means," said Malay Neerav, DU's Media Coordinator and Joint Dean of Students' Welfare.
This is the fourth time in the past fortnight that DU has been in the news for the wrong reasons over the conduct of examinations.
First, the financial management paper for B.Com (Hons) turned out to be an exact copy of the paper set by the School of Open Learning for an examination last year.
Then, a Hindi test had to be rescheduled after students were mistakenly given a question paper which was drawn up for the erstwhile Four-Year Undergraduate Programme.
Adding to the chain of fiascos, the Micro-Economics paper for visually-challenged students included questions asking them to draw graphs. The commerce department had said they have reported the matter to DU's examination branch.
While the varsity had constituted a three-member committee to probe the case of the B.Com (Hons) paper, the Hindi department had accepted its fault and rescheduled the exam.
DU's Dean of Examinations, Roop Lal, was unavailable for comments in this regard.