The Delhi High Court has taken a significant step in a case involving alleged manipulation of JEE-Main 2025 scorecards. Two students claimed that their original scorecards had been tampered with, prompting the Court to intervene and order a thorough cyber forensic investigation.
On Tuesday, Justice Vikas Mahajan instructed the Director of the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory (NCFL) to carry out a detailed investigation into the matter. This direction came after it was revealed that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) lacked the technical logistics to perform the investigation initially assigned to it.
"The director of NCFL is requested to ascertain the facts in terms of the questions posed by the Court in the order dated May 14, 2025," the Court stated.
The Registrar General of the Delhi High Court received a letter indicating that CERT-In, the nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), also lacked the necessary capabilities to conduct network forensics and server imaging. As a result, the Court accepted the suggestion to involve NCFL instead.
The Court emphasized the urgency of the matter, given that the JEE (Advanced) 2025 results are expected on June 2, 2025. Therefore, it directed the NCFL director to submit a report in a sealed cover by May 29, 2025.
“The director is requested to expedite the investigation and furnish a report in a sealed cover… in view of the urgency,” the Court added.
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The petitioners alleged that their Session I JEE-Main scorecards had been manipulated. According to them, the scorecards initially downloaded from the National Testing Agency (NTA) website later disappeared, and different scorecards with incorrect marks were uploaded in their place.
The NTA, however, denied any wrongdoing. Its counsel stated that the scorecards had also been sent via email to both students and that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) handled the uploading of these documents. NIC reportedly certified that neither the scorecards nor the response sheets were altered.
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The Court ordered NCFL to look into several key aspects:
- Whether the original scorecards and response sheets shown by the petitioners were actually downloaded from the official NTA website.
- Whether there were any signs of digital tampering, such as altered metadata, timestamps, or inconsistencies in authorship or source information.
- If the emails containing the scorecards, reportedly sent on February 12 and 13, 2025, were actually received by the candidates from their registered email IDs.
- Any other evidence or data that can help resolve the matter.
“The Director shall have the liberty to seek any further information or inspect NTA records relevant to the issue,” the Court said.
Case Title: Anusha Gupta & Ors v. National Testing Agency (Through The Director) & Ors.
