[mid-day]Supriya Sule seeks JPC on anti-paper leak Bill, SIT probe into alleged police action on protesters

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) legislator Supriya Sule on Tuesday urged the Centre to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), with representation from the Opposition, to frame a comprehensive anti-paper leak law, news agency IANS reported. She also sought an inquiry into the alleged police brutality against youth protesters during the recent nationwide agitation over the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak.

Participating in the debate on the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha, Sule responded to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Tejasvi Surya's "delulu" remark, saying, "You too don't be in delulu that the youth are with you."

Earlier in the day, Surya had said, "Because of this (paper leak) issue Opposition thinks that youth are with them, there can't be no greater delulu than this."

Sule, however, praised the drafting of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, saying, "Even if I am in Opposition, I will say that because this is not about arguing."

She said the 2024 law had the necessary provisions and argued that its timely implementation could have prevented the recent protests.

"Had the Bill been implemented at that time, we would not have to witness the Jantar Mantar (protest)," stated Sule.

Questioning the Centre over the timeline, Sule said, "On June 21, 2024, the Bill had come and the Act was made. However, on June 22, a committee was formed for recommendations. Who is being made fun of? If there was no committee before, then what was the rush for the Bill?"

Referring to student suicides linked to the NEET paper leak controversy, the NCP (SP) MP said, "I wish all the BJP MPs spoke with some compassion, empathy, humility and sympathy when it's about children."

She also questioned the Centre over its lack of engagement with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regarding its opposition to NEET.

"It is because of the differences between the haves and have nots. Who is regulating the coaching classes in this country? It is a huge business..." she said.

Sule also referred to a statement by NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who had said that "If (former Education Minister) Dharmendra Pradhan had resigned 15 days back, such a huge chaos would not have taken place."

"Not only me but even the BJP's allies are saying this," she added.

Referring to another statement by Bhujbal, Sule said, "He (Bhujbal) has called the protests as an indication, I hope the Union government is listening to it."

"This is not about UPA versus NDA, it is about system versus aspirations," she asserted.

Sule also urged the Centre to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged police brutality against youth protesters during the paper leak agitation across the country.

Calling the scenes "horrific", she said, "Let there be a transparent enquiry as to what went wrong that day so that such a thing never gets repeated."

Responding to allegations of foreign funding behind the protests, Sule said, "Children were making memes over it."

Reiterating her party's two key demands, the Baramati MP stated, "If you really want to change the system form a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee), call every stakeholder and come up with a Bill that is leak proof...call an all party meeting, we are all on the same side."

"The second is to conduct an enquiry over what happened across India, wherever any child was hit," the NCP (SP) MP added.