Months after medico exposed data leak of CBSE students, JEE, NEET candidates, CBSE tells Delhi cops it's not their responsibility

The complaint was made by Vivek Pandey, a medical student from Madha Pradesh, who is an RTI activist. The websites with the data are still active
Central Board of Secondary Education
Central Board of Secondary Education

In September 2020, Vivek Pandey, a medical student from Madhya Pradesh wrote to the CBI, accusing 17 websites of leaking the personal data of CBSE students from classes VI to XII and NEET and JEE candidates. Five months and a series of RTIs later, Pandey was informed by the Delhi Crime Branch that the CBSE is yet to conduct an inquiry on the matter — nor had the NTA taken any tangible action on the leaking of data pertaining to candidates who wrote NEET and JEE. Ironically, most of these websites are still active, according to him.

The complaint was filed with the CBI on September 8. A month later, on October 7, Pandey had filed an RTI with the department, seeking the status of the complaint. On November 27, he was informed that the complaint was forwarded to the Central Board of Secondary Education. However, the CBSE had sent back the complaint, saying that it does not conduct JEE or NEET. "Above complaint has been sent back to the SP, CBI, CGO Complex, New Delhi informing that the NEET, JEE (Main) or JEE (Advanced) examinations are not conducted by CBSE. Further, all 17 websites mentioned by the Complainant in his complaint letter are not the website of CBSE and therefore, CBSE is not in a position to make any comment on the complaint," reads the RTI reply.

However, it did not comment on the data leak of the CBSE students. "How can it blatantly ignore a major point in the complaint and send it back?" asks Pandey. He then filed an RTI in December, to verify the status of the complaint. In January, he was informed that the complaint was forwarded to the Delhi Police and then to the Crime Branch.

While the Crime Branch assures Pandey that legal action will be taken accordingly, the fact that the data is still available in the public domain worries Pandey. In his initial letter to the CBI, Pandey had accused these 17 websites of selling students' data to brokers who contact the aspirants for paid seats in private colleges. He has also shared recordings from calls that he had had with brokers to prove this point.

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