New Delhi: Delhi High Court has reduced the punishment imposed on a law student accused of cheating during an examination, holding that there was no evidence he was found “actually using” the material allegedly recovered from a washroom.
The petitioner, enrolled in the 2024-25 law programme, approached the high court after disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him over an incident during Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita examination on Jan 13, 2025.
The court said the penalty imposed by Delhi University , cancellation of all papers in the semester, was disproportionate in the circumstances of the case. “I am of the view that in the inquiry proceedings, the applicable test is of preponderance of probability and not proving a fact beyond reasonable doubt as in a criminal trial… perusal of the Inquiry Report seems to suggest that the cheating material was found in the washroom and nothing in the report indicates that the student was found in ‘actual use of such material’,” the court observed, adding that the student was entitled to the benefit of doubt. A professor followed him to the washroom and allegedly found him cheating with a slip while he was at a urinal, according to the university.
Examining the inquiry report, the court noted that the professor concerned had not stated that he found the student using the alleged cheating slips inside the washroom. The court consequently modified the punishment from Clause B of the university’s unfair-means guidelines to the less stringent Clause A. It noted that Clause B amounts to a major penalty with a substantial impact on a student’s academic career and can be invoked only when invigilators actually see a candidate using prohibited material. Following an inquiry by Delhi University’s Examination Disciplinary Committee, the student was initially debarred from appearing in university examinations till the end of the following semester. On appeal, Review Committee modified the punishment to cancellation of all papers in the current semester under Clause B.