Chits to cheat is passé, students use WhatsApp to pass Delhi University law exam

The Delhi police are probing at least four reported cases of students using WhatsApp on their smartphones to get answers in the Delhi’s University’s law entrance exam held over the weekend.

It doesn’t matter if you spell best as ‘bast’ and answer as ‘answar’, you could still help students crack Delhi’s University’s law entrance examination with the help of smartphones.

The police are probing at least four reported cases of students using WhatsApp on their smartphones to get answers in the Delhi’s University’s law entrance exam held over the weekend. (HT File)

Days of students carrying chits or notes to the examination hall may be a trick of the past because messaging app WhatsApp has seeped into universities. The Delhi police are probing at least four reported cases of students using WhatsApp on their smartphones to get answers in the Delhi’s University’s law entrance exam held over the weekend.

The modus operandi — students carry more than one cell phone into the hall and deposit one phone when asked by the teacher. The minute they get the question papers, they take photographs of the question paper and WhatsApp it to their counterparts, who then send the answer key within minutes. The best part is it works better than text message and does not run the risk of talking over the phone.

On Sunday, when an invigilator reported a Delhi University student in south campus college using WhatsApp to copy the answers, the officers on checking his cell phone were shocked to find answers of all the four pages in four image files. His associates on the other line who were sending the answers had typed ‘All the bast’ showing that they too took help from others to send the answers.

This is not the lone case. Police in north Delhi registered an FIR against two students who were caught with three mobile phones at Hans Raj College on Sunday. The invigilator, while checking their phones, saw the phone had answers sent via WhatsApp.

Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examination, DU said there were eight-nine cases of students sneaking mobile phones in centres such as Hans Raj, Kirori Mal and Hindu. Gupta said they have written to the police. “These students carried two mobiles and submitted one with the examiner. But when they took out the other phone, they were caught.”

Of the nine cases, the use of WhatsApp to cheat was found only in four cases.

Following such cases, Delhi police have asked the university officials to keep an eye on students carrying cell phones. Another student adopting a similar modus operandi was caught at law faculty, while writing the same exam.

“The photos were taken within seconds of receiving the questions. Invigilators may not be very attentive while distributing the papers, hoping that nobody would cheat. In multiple choice questions, this works well with the student inside the class who only has to tick the correct answer,” said an investigating officer.

The dean said they would make frisking stricter from next year. “The system is already strict due to which there was no paper leak unlike previous years. But we will take steps to ensure nothing like what happened this year is repeated,” he said.