‘Just being accused of a crime doesn't make one a criminal'
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Kolkata: Suspending a student before conviction for a crime is like holding him/her guilty and punishing him/her before any court pronounces it, the Calcutta High Court cited from a Rajasthan High Court judgement while allowing a Bengal medical student accused of impersonating in NEET UG 2024 to sit for a supplementary examination on June 9 and 10.
A student of Raiganj Medical College in North Dinajpur was suspended based on National Medical Commission's direction of April 1, 2025. Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury clarified that the student's exam result cannot be published without the court's leave. The matter will be listed in July.
The student was booked by Tilak Marg PS in New Delhi for allegedly appearing on behalf of another candidate in the NEET UG exam by impersonating the actual candidate on May 5, 2024.
There was a mismatch found in the admit card as well. However, he was granted bail by the Additional Sessions Judge, New Delhi district on June 3, 2024.
It was the student's case that he was meritorious and cracked NEET UG to get admitted to Raiganj Medical College. He passed the first year but got a backlog in the second year in pathology. He was supposed to sit for the supplementary paper on June 9 and 10 but was suspended on April 29 without any opportunity of hearing.
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The suspension debarred him from participating in the supplementary examination. His counsel stressed that to date no charge sheet has been filed. The judge noted that a criminal proceeding may take years to complete.
He cited the Rajasthan HC verdict wherein a few students were suspended by their college. They too were accused of impersonating others in an examination. In the judgement, it was highlighted that the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act of 2024, which deals with malpractices in public examinations, though provides for punishment, does not contain any provision for suspension.
Moreover, it was highlighted that suspension presupposes the initiation of an inquiry but in the case of impersonation done outside the college where the accused is studying, no inquiry is possible as the matter is with the police and not the college. Hence, conducting an inquiry would essentially be a futile exercise.
"Unless such a finding is recorded and petitioners are held guilty, their future cannot be kept in suspended animation for an indefinite period... " the Calcutta High Court cited from the Rajasthan HC judgment.
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