Watch: Collector slaps student during exam in Madhya Pradesh; says his 'strictness' busted mass copying racket

Bhind: The collector of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district was caught on camera slapping a student appearing for an examination at a local college, an action he claimed busted a mass copying racket operating at the centre.

A purported video of the incident that took place on April 1 surfaced on social media on Saturday, in which Bhind Collector Sanjeev Shrivastava can be seen slapping a student multiple times at an exam centre.

Talking to PTI on Sunday, Shrivastava said that his strict grilling of the boy had busted a mass copying racket.

"The incident occurred in March or April after I got a complaint about mass copying in an examination conducted by the Jiwaji University. We received information about Deendayal Danroliya College. When we reached there, everything was in order. But this boy only had the answer sheet. When I became strict with him, he spilt the beans that two maths teachers were solving the question paper outside (the centre) and will return it for mass dictation (mass copying)," the collector claimed.

About slapping the boy, he said, "That only unmasked the copying racket. The boy was initially giving evasive replies about the question paper." The video shows the collector questioning a student inside the examination centre, and when the latter failed to respond, he was seen slapping him multiple times.

The student, Rohit Rathore, was later barred from appearing for the exam and accused of sending his BSc physics question paper outside the centre to get it solved and returned.

After the video went viral on social media, local reporters approached Rathore, who claimed that he had gone to the toilet during the exam and returned to find his question paper missing.

"The collector arrived suddenly and slapped me without asking anything. My ear hurt, and I wasn't given a chance to explain," he alleged and said that a cheating case was filed against him.

The collector said he wrote to Jiwaji University, Gwalior to scrap recognition of the exam centre, which is why the college management leaked their CCTV footage.

"The college belongs to the father-in-law of deputy leader of the opposition (in MP assembly) Hemant Katare," Shrivastava said.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party national spokesman, Yash Bhartiya, demanded an inquiry and strict action against the collector.

Taking to X, Bhartiya said, "Six days ago, the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, while hearing a case related to the Public Works Department, commented on Srivastava's conduct, stating, 'the chief secretary must decide whether such an officer should continue to serve in the field." Posting a video clip of the incident, he called the IAS officer violent.

Tehsildar Mala Sharma, posted in Bhind, recently accused Srivastava and Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Parag Jain of mental harassment, the SP leader wrote.