NEET: How India's Exam Paper Leak Ended Young Lives

In June 2024, a 17-year-old named Kahaan Patel died by suicide in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. He jumped from his family's apartment building just three days before he was set to retake a major medical entrance exam called NEET. The exam had been cancelled after someone leaked the test questions, forcing nearly two million students to sit it all over again. Kahaan was one of at least 21 young people who died by suicide after the scandal was announced.

Kahaan had worked toward a dream of becoming a doctor for years. His family moved cities so he could attend a better school, and his father commuted long distances each week to support him. When Kahaan walked out of the May 3 exam, he called his father, full of joy. He said, 'Daddy, I am so happy. I am feeling free, relaxed.' Then the news of the paper leak arrived and changed everything.

When the government ordered a retest, Kahaan grew angry and discouraged. He asked his father why honest students were being punished for cheating they had nothing to do with. His father tried to comfort him, but Kahaan kept asking questions no one could answer. On the night of June 17, he seemed fine — he even asked his grandfather to bring back Puma football boots from Australia. Hours later, he was dead.

About 770 kilometres away in Rajasthan, 23-year-old Pradeep Kumar faced the same crushing disappointment. His father, a small farmer named Rajesh, had sold land and borrowed over a million rupees to pay for Pradeep's exam coaching. Pradeep woke each morning at 4:30, studied until 9 at night, and refused to own a phone so he would not be distracted. He told his father after the May exam, 'This time my selection is guaranteed.' Two weeks later, he too was gone.

The deaths of these students sparked massive protests in Delhi in July 2024. Thousands of young people took to the streets, demanding that officials be held responsible for the repeated exam failures. After days of demonstrations, India's education minister resigned. Kahaan's father joined the protests, saying he wanted not money but accountability — and that the students who kept marching had become his son's voice.