A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an independent investigation into the alleged leak of the CLAT 2026 question paper.

The plea claims that images, videos and other material showing the question paper and answer key were shared on WhatsApp and Telegram even before the exam was held.

The petition asks the Court to order a fresh CLAT exam under independent supervision if the leak is found to be true.

The plea has been filed by law aspirants from Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Classes and economically weaker sections. They say that the alleged leak has unfairly affected thousands of honest candidates.

According to the petitioners, the leak has seriously damaged the fairness and credibility of the exam. They have also pointed out that counselling and seat allotment are scheduled to begin on January 7, and going ahead with the current results would cause permanent harm to deserving students.

CLAT 2026 was conducted on December 7, 2025, from 2 PM to 4 PM at 156 centres across 25 states and four Union Territories. The exam is organised by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) for admission to law courses. This year, over 92,000 students appeared for about 5,000 seats.

The petition states that hours before the exam, social media users began sharing images and videos of the question paper and answer key. Some posts reportedly had timestamps from the night of December 6, nearly 15 hours before the exam. A few messages also allegedly offered access to the paper in return for money.

The petitioners say these posts appeared genuine as they did not show any “edited” label, suggesting the content was shared before the exam.

The plea also points out that although the Consortium later set up a grievance portal headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice M.R. Shah, no report or clarification has been released. Candidates who raised complaints reportedly received no response.

According to the petition, this silence has increased doubts and reduced trust in the exam process. It says exams like CLAT must be conducted fairly and transparently.

The petitioners have therefore asked the Supreme Court to appoint an independent body to check the authenticity of the leaked material, find out how the leak happened and fix responsibility. If the allegations are proved, they have sought cancellation of CLAT 2026 and a fresh exam under the Court’s supervision.

The petition has been filed through Advocate Malvika Kapila