The question on an end of a third-semester exam in the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) for the law student read: “Ahmed who is a Muslim kills a cow before his Hindu friends Rohit, Manay, Rahul, and Rohit. Has he gone against the law?”

The question featured in a law of Crimes-I examination paper held on 7th December. Ten out of all the Colleges of GGSIP offer bachelor of law courses and each one of them received this question paper.

The University admitted that the question which featured on the social media was indeed from the institution. However, they expressed their sincere regret and removed the question from the exam. As a result, any student who attempted the question will not be marked wrong or right. Manish Sisodia, minister of Education in Delhi, said that he has issued an inquiry letter about the situation.

“It is kind of strange to attempt to disturb the peace and harmony of the society. We will relentlessly fight such vices and a serious action shall be taken to the parties involved if found guilty. I have inquired about the matter and is just waiting for a confirmation,” Sisodia said.

In the Bilal Anwar Khan (a lawyer at the Supreme Court) tweet of the question paper, he stated: “Here is a different way of changing the social norms. This is an image of NCR’s third-semester end term question paper meant for law students.”

Khan was referring to the Chandra Prabhu Jain (CPJ) College of Higher Studies and School of law at Narela, both of which are affiliates of GGSIPU.

Khan explained that his letter to the University administration concerning the matter was yet to be answered. The content of his email read: “The question paper is skewed towards a certain community and its content is a subject of debate. The nature of the question clearly indicates that it targets a particular group of people which is against India’s constitution as well as the egalitarian values… Kindly take necessary measures to curb such malpractices and criticism.”

Neeta Beri who is the principal of the School of Law at CPJ College admitted that the question paper was made by the University but she feels that there is no need to have the authorities’ involvement in the matter. “The paper was produced behind my knowledge as I have been on a short leave, but I don’t think it is necessary for me to raise my concern about the issue. Being that it is a Law question, it can trigger anything and it is now upon the court to make a decision regarding the same.” She said.

An examination official at GGSIPU said that the paper was 100% confidential and was drafted purposely for academic. He didn’t disclose the examiners involved in the setting of the paper but went ahead to explain that the question was based on the everyday happenings in the society and that it is a good practice for student to be subjected to such questions as they help them to apply the legal knowledge from classroom to what happens in reality.

On the other hand, GGSIPU Registrar Satnam Singh stated that the university at large regrets such error. “You cannot relate anything to a religion. It is a bad practice and as it stands, the question doesn’t count. It has been removed from the examination paper and the students won’t be examined on it. We will also issue an order to all the examiners informing them never to include such a question in any examination.” He told the Indian Express.