The Supreme Court on Monday advised caution to a clutch of petitioners demanding a re-test of the May 5 NEET-UG exam, the results of which were released last month and have been affected by leaked question papers and the award of ‘grace marks’, or preferential marking, for 1,563 students.

The court said certain circumstances – including “(if) the time lag between the leak and actual exam is limited” – would argue against a re-test. “If students were asked to memorise (the leaked questions) on the morning of the exam then the leak might not have been so widespread…”

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said it therefore was loathe to order a re-test for nearly 24 lakh students – many of whom come from poor families and could ill-afford to spend money travelling to exam centres – unless necessary. A re-test is the “last option”, it said.

“One thing is clear… questions were leaked. The sanctity of the exam has been compromised… this is beyond doubt. Now we have to establish the extent of the leak,” the Chief Justice said, “We have to be careful while ordering a re-test. We are dealing with the careers of lakhs of students.”

The court stressed a re-test could only be ordered if there was sufficient time (the court did not specify how much this should be) between the leak of the questions and conduct of the exam.

“If time lag was too long then there needs to be a re-test… or, if we can’t identify candidates who are guilty of wrongdoing, then a retest has to be ordered,” the Supreme Court said.

The court also rapped the government for being in “denial” and said it should be “ruthless” in dealing with candidates who paid for the leaked exam and those who supplied the question paper.

“What have you done with the beneficiaries? You have to be ruthless… bring some sense of confidence to the process. Let us not be in a sense of self-denial…” the court remarked.

Earlier the court had been told question papers were available on social media, including popular messaging apps like Telegram, at least 24 hours before the exam was to begin.

Crate after crate of liquor bottles, long queues of men waiting for their turn and police providing security at the event — a thanskgiving event organised by supporters of Karnataka BJP MP and former minister K Sudhakar has drawn criticism for free and public distribution of liquor.

The Chikkballapur MP’s supporters organised the event to thank people for his victory in the recently-held general election. BJP’s K Sudhakar defeated Congress MS Raksha Ramaiah by a margin of more than 1.6 lakh votes.

Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar said BJP national president JP Nadda must issue a clarification. “I don’t want the local leaders to… I want the BJP national president to issue a clarification,” he said, adding that “this is the culture of the BJP”.

Asked if the state government will take steps in this matter under the state excise policy, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “That is the next point. First, let the party answer.”

Visuals from the event show long queues and rush among people to collect liquor bottles. What’s bizarre is that Mr Sudhakar had written to the local police ahead of the event, seeking police deployment for the event. And this letter mentioned that food and liquor will be served at the event. A big question then is why the event was allowed and cops deployed.

Commenting on the row over liquor distribution, CN Ashwath Narayan, former minister and BJP MLA said, “We can’t blame anybody unless this is properly looked into. If there is a system, the government would have fixed responsibility. If the government feels whatever has happened (is wrong), let them take action.”

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