Political Science included cooking, responds Rai in an interview.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
Ruby Rai, the Bihar board Class XII arts ‘topper’, was arrested and sent to jail for cheating after she failed to answer even a single question when the authorities conducted a re-examination. She was sent to judicial custody until July 8 by a magistrate on Sunday.
Rai is one among the many students who allegedly cheated the examination board with the help of their parents and education department officials. The scam was brought to light when Rai struggled to answer basic questions in a TV interview that was aired after the results were declared. She said that political science included cooking and mispronouncing political science as “prodigal science,” during the interview.
Rai appeared before an expert committee of the Bihar State Education Board to prove that she was innocent. But she failed to give proper answers to the questions asked by the experts. When they asked to write a few lines on the famous poet Tulsidas, she could write only one line: “Tulsidas, pranam,” reported The Indian Express.
Several media reports say that during interrogation, Rai said that she didn’t want to become the topper, but she only wanted to pass the exam.
“I had only told Papa to get me passed but they went ahead and made me topper,” she said.
“The arts topper was very forthright in accepting that she did not deserve to be a topper,” Manu Maharaj, Patna special SP heading the special investigation team (SIT) probing the scam, told The Indian Express.
“She had expected second division at best. She now blamed her guardians and Vishun Roy College principal Bachcha Rai for making her topper,” he added.
A total of 20 people, including Bacha Rai, have been arrested in connection with the scam so far. Several toppers from the same institution failed to answer basic questions in the same manner before the officials. Several government officials are also have alleged connection with the scandal that has rattled both the state and the nation.
Bihar board secretary Hariharnath Jha was arrested on Monday and sent to judicial custody in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, the age of Ruby Rai has become another point of controversy with some people arguing that the girl was a minor and mustn’t have been sent to jail. A local NGO came up with the allegation that the girl was born in October 1998 and hence still a minor. But the parents haven’t raised such an argument.