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‘Increase In Suicide Among Students Of Higher Education Alarming’, Says Bombay High Court

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'Increase In Suicide Among Students Of Higher Education Alarming', Says Bombay High Court

Increase in suicide amongst students of higher education is “alarming” and it calls for immediate measure by all concerned, the Bombay High Court  observed on Tuesday. The court added that wellbeing of every student, including mental wellbeing is an integral part of every student in general.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by child rights activist Shobha Panchmukh, 57, highlighting the increase in suicide amongst students. The plea seeks direction to the Mumbai University (MU) to issue a circular to all affiliated / associated colleges to have counsellors to address and deal with mental health of students. The PIL expressed concern about inadequate measures available so far as curbing suicidal tendencies among students of higher education are concerned.

Petitioner’s advocate pointed out that as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) number of suicides committed by students for 2019, 2020 and 2021 are 1487, 1648 and 1834 respectively. This shows an increasing trend.“Well being  of every student including mental wellbeing is Integral part of every student in general,” a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said.

The court noted that Sec 5(36) of the Maharashtra Universities Act casts a duty on the universities to make arrangements for promoting a healthy atmosphere and ensure welfare of students at college, university and  institutions. “Thus the University, in our opinion, is duty bound  to make measures to create an atmosphere in college and institutions  where instances of suicide do not take place,” the bench added.

Taking note of the increasing number of suicides as reflected in the NCRB data, the HC said, “Such a situation is not almost alarming but calls for immediate measures by all concerned.”

State advocate Jyoti Chavan informed the court that they were not treating the plea as adversarial but suggested that the Centre should be added as a respondent since it has special budget allocation for suicide prevention.

Chavan pointed out that University Grants Commission (UGC) should also be added as a respondent since several colleges are now becoming autonomous. “It is a larger issue and not just about the universities,” Chavan submitted.

The bench then asked the petitioner to add UGC as respondent to the PIL.

The high court has asked the Maharashtra government, University of Mumbai and Higher and Technical Education Department to file their affidavits in response to the plea in three weeks. Panchmukh has been asked to file additional affidavit in one week thereafter.

Crime

Rajasthan Police bust gang involved in NEET cheating, arrest five

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Jaipur, May 5: Jaipur Police have arrested five members of a gang involved in cheating during the NEET UG 2025 examination by using dummy candidates and unfair means.

The arrests were made following a raid at a flat in ABD Pristine Apartments located in Jagdamba Nagar, Karni Vihar, based on a tip-off, said officials on Monday.

The police recovered fake exam documents, Bluetooth devices, four SIM cards, mobile phones, and Rs 50,000 in cash from the possession of the accused. A Scorpio vehicle was also seized.

Those arrested include Ajit Kumar Barala (26), a resident of Chimanpura, Chomu; Sohan Lal Chaudhary (26), from Kushalpura, Samod; and Jitendra Sharma (24), from Bichpadi, Harmada.

DCP (West) Amit Kumar stated that the NEET UG 2025 exam, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), was held on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The arrested suspects were allegedly planning to help candidates clear the exam using illegal methods.

During the initial investigation, it was revealed that Sohan and Ajit were charging large sums of money from candidates in exchange for ensuring their success through fraudulent means.

Jitendra Sharma had been prepared as a dummy candidate, and the gang had used artificial intelligence tools on mobile phones to manipulate and merge photographs to create fake admit cards. Sharma was scheduled to appear for the NEET exam on behalf of Rohit Gora and was also preparing to sit for the Paramedical exam on May 27 in place of another candidate, Sanjay Chaudhary.

Based on information provided during interrogation, police also arrested the original candidates — Rohit Gora (20), a resident of Chomu, and Sanjay Chaudhary (19), from Samod.

The investigation revealed that Sohan and Ajit are postgraduate students at the National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) near Zorawar Singh Gate, and live together in a flat in Jagdamba Nagar. Motivated by the lure of a lavish lifestyle and quick earnings, they allegedly turned to examination fraud.

Jitendra Sharma is a first-year MBBS student at the Copper Institute of Medical Science in Karnataka and had qualified NEET exam in 2024.

Meanwhile, further investigations are underway in the case, said police officials.

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Education

JEE Main 2025 session 2 results declared, 24 candidates score 100 percentile

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New Delhi, April 19: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday officially declared the results of JEE Main 2025 Session 2 Paper 1 on its official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in.

Notably, 24 candidates have achieved a perfect 100 percentile score in the exam, with the highest number of toppers hailing from Rajasthan, followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana, among other states.

The NTA announced that the results of 110 candidates found using unfair means, including forged documents, in JEE (Main) have been withheld. More than 9.92 lakh candidates had appeared for the second edition of the crucial exam.

The JEE Main 2025 scorecard includes a detailed breakdown of each candidate’s performance, featuring raw marks, subject-wise percentiles, the overall NTA score, All India Rank (AIR), and JEE Advanced eligibility status.

Alongside individual scores, NTA has also released the category-wise cut-offs for JEE Advanced 2025 eligibility. These cut-offs will help students evaluate their chances of progressing to the next phase or securing seats through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling process, expected to commence in June 2025.

This announcement marks a crucial academic milestone for lakhs of aspirants across the country, JEE Main serves as a gateway to top engineering institutions, including NITs, IIITs, and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs).

It is also the qualifying exam for the prestigious JEE Advanced, which paves the way to admission into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

In a move to maintain transparency and accuracy in the evaluation process, NTA released the final answer key for the JEE Main 2025 April session on Thursday.

As per the updated key, two questions have been officially dropped, one from the April 3 first shift (domestic set) and another from the April 2 first shift (international set).

These decisions were made after reviewing valid objections submitted during the challenge window. However, the answer key was briefly removed from the official website late Thursday night.

Candidates who have qualified for JEE Advanced 2025 can now begin the registration process and ramp up their preparation. Those who did not qualify will participate in JoSAA counselling to explore other premier engineering opportunities.

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Crime

Four arrested for duping CET aspirants by promising them success

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Mumbai: Mumbai Crime Branch has claimed to have arrested four fraudsters for duping aspirants by promising to increase success rate and ratio in MBA, MHCET and other government exams. Crime Branch has busted a gang which stole the data of candidates registered and enrolled in State CET Cell Mumbai MBA, MHCT exams and contacted a total of 72 candidates from Maharashtra through mobile phones, luring them to get admission in prestigious colleges and demanding Rs 15 to 20 lakh.

Crime Branch Unit 5 has taken action in this case, while the case was registered at Azad Maidan Police Station in Mumbai. The accused involved in this case used to make calls and audio and video calls through WhatsApp to the affected candidates of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan and other states and extorted lakhs of rupees from them by luring them to increase percentage in MBA, MHCT exams. Police have claimed to have arrested 4 accused from New Delhi using modern technology in this case. More arrests are expected in this case, as important action has been taken by wearing masks.

DCP Datta Nalawade said that complaints were being received from various districts of Maharashtra that there was manipulation in government examinations and the percentage of admission in prestigious colleges was being increased by hacking the website. The Crime Branch took action and arrested four accused. These accused told that if any center including Beed, Jalna and Parbhani is selected in the state of Maharashtra, then they will play an important role in making it successful. This action was taken on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar.

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