New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday (July 30) passed The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, as Opposition members raised questions on the police action unleashed on protesters in the national capital and demanded a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah, who was not present in the House. The Bill was passed by voice vote, with the Opposition, barring the DMK, staging a walkout.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is yet to issue a statement on the police action on protesters, and was not present in the House, released an Instagram reel at 11 pm in which he said that a significant step has been taken towards creating a reliable examination system. Since the youth protests began, Modi has released three other such reels close to midnight in an apparent outreach to the youth.“We introduced a Bill in Parliament, and as I had promised you, both Houses of Parliament, with the participation of a vast number of MPs, have held detailed discussions on it,” said Modi.“Today, both Houses have passed this Bill containing provisions for strict laws. A significant step has now been taken towards achieving a reliable examination system. This work will continue. We will not allow such a situation to persist for long.”At the end of the debate in the Rajya Sabha which lasted almost eight hours, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said that the Opposition had expected that Shah would deliver a statement on the force used on protesters who had responded to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s ‘Chalo Sansad’ march call on July 20. With Shah absent, the Opposition staged a walkout, as leader of the House and Union minister J.P. Nadda said that they were “irresponsible” and had “no respect for parliamentary democracy.”“Since the session began, their sole focus has been on disrupting the proceedings of the House and preventing the House from functioning. Opposition does not have any issues, they have a habit of changing goalposts. The government under Modi is ready to have a discussion on every issue,” said Nadda.“I condemn the walkout and strongly censure it. The manner in which they have exposed themselves should be seen and understood by the entire country.”Earlier in the day, Opposition leaders in their speeches sought accountability from Shah on the police action on protesters. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that while Shah is not in the House, he will be forced to come out by the public.Also read: Delhi Qualifies Immunity to Protesters; CJP Reminds Modi Govt of Jantar Mantar Agreement“On July 20, hundreds of students were marching to the parliament peacefully. They wanted a discussion but they got tear gas, batons with nails, pellet guns, metro stations were closed, internet was shut down. This angered students and citizens. You could not handle the situation peacefully. More than 100 protesters were injured in this agitation, some are in the ICU, some received pellet injuries. We felt ashamed but we don’t know if the government felt ashamed or not,” said Kharge.“The home minister is responsible for this. You can stay behind closed doors but one day you will be dragged out and brought in front of the public.”Kharge also said that the Bill being brought is “incomplete” and unless institutions and the examination system are reformed and accountability is fixed, “paper leaks will continue to occur and we will be discussing this again.”During his speech, the Treasury benches rose in protest, after Kharge said that the Manusmriti had been added to the syllabus that encourages caste based discrimination. Chairman and Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan questioned what the Manusmriti had to do with the Bill amid loud protests from the Opposition benches.The police action on protesters was also raised by other Opposition members. TMC MP Sagarika Ghose in her remarks referred to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks that the retest conducted after the NEET-UG paper leak in May, had allowed students more time to study.“This is preposterous. Are cancelled exams somehow beneficial? Is this the government’s defence?” she said. Ghose said that a cancelled examination is not just an administrative failure it is a “personal betrayal.”“Because of this personal betrayal, 21 children have lost their lives. One young girl left a note saying sorry Mummy, Papa I cannot take a retest. A child is gone because of the failure of the government and the prime minister has not said one word about these children. He is so busy with his ‘Mann ki Baat’,” she said.CPI(M) MP John Brittas said that the students had come to Jantar Mantar and protested for a month because “piled up angst and anger of millions of students” was expressed there.“Don’t belittle them, don’t humiliate them, they are our children,” he said. Brittas said that “students’ determination cannot be broken with lathis with nails and pellet guns, they have the courage to take on anybody.”“Sixty per cent of the Cabinet ministers their children and grandchildren study abroad. But our students have nowhere to go. Fear has lost its voice due to the protest of the students of Jantar Mantar; courage speaks for us. We are regaining the democratic space in this country.”Brittas referred to the high-powered committee set up by the centre headed by Nandan Nilekani and said “committee after committee” for every crisis is the biggest crisis.RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha in his speech said that “cosmetic reforms will not work”.“You have to dismantle the source of the disease, which is NTA (National Testing Agency). Throw it into the Bay of Bengal. Your bureaucracy and parliamentarians also know this,” he said.Jha said that “leakage” was done in political parties to increase the government’s numerical strength, but the government’s moral compass is weak due to its loss of credibility.Also read: Paper Leaks Will Continue Until We Redesign the System ItselfAAP MP Sanjay Singh said that in the NEET re-exam conducted in July, about 2 lakh students did not take the test who had given it in May.“The Bill shows that the government is admitting that we cannot stop paper leaks. The responsibility of taking tests is the government but you don’t have the confidence that you will bring a law which will stop paper leaks,” he said.Referring to the fast track courts and trials to be completed in five months, Singh said that 2.5 lakh cases are pending in fast track courts already. Referring to the closure of public schools, and only 2% of India’s annual budget being spent on education, Singh said that Modi believes “anpadh raheyga India tabhi toh andhbhakt baneyga India” (if India remains illiterate, only then will India become a blind devotee.)“If farmers protest, they’re Khalistanis, if Muslims protest, they’re Pakistanis, if youth protest, they’re Chinestanis. But the government that fires pellet guns, tear gas and AK-47s is behaving like terrorists,” he said.The Bill seeks to amend the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act of 2024 and strengthen fairness, enhance the credibility of the public examination system and facilitate time-bound investigations and speedy trials. It proposes stricter punishment of up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a Rs 50 lakh fine for paper leak offences and organised rackets will attract a minimum sentence of seven years and fines of up to Rs 10 crore. The Bill was brought after Modi last week, amid nationwide protests, promised to set up fast-track courts for paper leak cases.The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, with the Opposition raising questions on the police action on protesters and why the 2024 law was not implemented, as both Modi and Shah remained absent.