Uttar Pradesh's VBSP University Awards 50% Marks To 18 Students For Writing ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Cricketers' Names

In a bizarre incident, 18 first-year college students were awarded passing marks after they wrote 'Jai Shri Ram' and names of Indian cricketers in the pharmacy exam. The incident was revealed through an RTI, which states, two professors of Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal (VBSP) University in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh awarded 50% marks to many students allegedly in exchange of money.

However, after the incident came to light, the University authority suspended two professors, Vinay Verma and Ashish Gupta.

The RTI was filed by Divyanshu Singh, a former student leader at VBSP University, in August last year. Singh demanded a re-evaluation of the answer sheets by providing the roll numbers of the students and later it was found that their answer sheets were blank and only Jai Shree Ram and the names of Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and other cricketers were written.

Reportedly, the complainant submitted an affidavit along with the evidence to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, after which, the truth came to light.

Reacting to the incident, Vice-Chancellor Vandana Singh said, "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."

When asked about religious slogans written on answer sheets, the Vice-Chancellor added, that she "has not seen the copy with Jai Shri Ram answers but saw a copy, in which, she could not find anything relevant based on which marks could be given to the student. The handwriting was not very clear."