NEET: Give grace marks to SC aspirant, says Madras HC
Chennai, Oct 21: The Madras High Court has directed the authorities concerned to award 4 grace marks to an unsuccessful SC aspirant for MBBS course for prescribing a wrong question in NEET conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The bench was allowing a writ appeal from T Udhayakumar, who abstained from answering question no. 97 as none of the key answers appeared correct. Fearing deduction of one mark for giving wrong answer, he preferred to leave it unanswered. He, however, had secured 92 out of 720, one short to the cut-off mark of 93 for SC candidates.
He sent a representation online. But it was not considered. Hence, he filed a writ petition, but his counsel withdrew it later without obtaining liberty from the court to move it again at a later stage. Hence, the present appeal.
"When the appellant/writ petitioner hailing from a downtrodden community has secured 92 marks in the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (UG) 2022 examination, in view of the wrong key answers given to question No.97, he failed to secure the four marks."
"It is also the admitted case of both parties that the key answers to the question have been wrongly given. It is not out of context to mention herein that Article 46 of the Constitution says that the State shall protect the economic interests of the weaker sections of the society, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes," the first bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishnakumar said in a recent order, while allowing the appeal as a special case.
The NTA, being an instrumentality of the State, cannot refuse to award the four grace marks to the appellant who belongs to the weaker section of the society, the bench said.
The judges held the writ appeal filed by the appellant is certainly entertainable. The relief provided should be confined to the appellant alone, as he has diligently approached this court without any delay.
The bench made it clear that this order is passed in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case and may not be treated as a precedent.
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Murder accused jumps off train to escape police custody in Khandwa
Khandwa/MP (PTI): A man arrested in connection with the murder of a local journalist escaped from police custody by jumping off a train in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa while being taken to Uttar Pradesh on a transit remand, police said on Saturday.
The absconding accused, Jamiruddin Qureshi, is one of the five persons booked for their alleged involvement in the murder of a journalist in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on May 13, said assistant sub-inspector Anni Lal of Khandwa Government Railway Police (GRP).
Following the murder, Qureshi fled to Mumbai, and the crime branch of the Thane police apprehended him, he said.
Two UP police personnel were bringing him to Jaunpur on transit remand on May 15 and were travelling on the Gorakhpur Weekly Express, the official said.
The train reached Khandwa station around 2.40 am on May 16, and when the train started leaving the platform, the accused sought permission to go to the toilet, he said.
As the two policemen started taking him to the toilet at the entrance of the coach, the accused jumped off the train, the official said.
The police have lodged a complaint, and a search has been launched for the accused, he said.
