Out of the frame: No credit for photographer who captured Bihar exam cheats!

Last week, a large-scale examination cheating scam was exposed in Khagriya and Hajipur in Bihar when friends and family of Class 10 students taking the Bihar board exams were caught climbing school building walls to pass chits to students inside.

The incident would have gone unnoticed had it not been for Rajesh Kumar, a local photojournalist who captured people literally climbing the walls of a school. Kumar, though, has been pushed out of the frame.

According to an article in The Hindu,  Kumar, who works for a local Hindi daily in Bihar’s Vaishali district, had sent the photo to his bureau in Hajipur. He had no idea that his photo would go ‘viral’ the way it did and will be picked up by national and international agencies. “My photo has gone viral, but I am pushed into anonymity,” The Hindu quoted Kumar as saying.

The incident, which made international headlines, took place despite invigilators and police personnel posted outside the exam venues.

Little may have Kumar expected from the image he clicked, but his photo ended up being reported by foreign news agencies and in turn had the Patna High Court pull up the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

A day after being reprimanded by the Patna High Court, the Bihar government enforced a crackdown and apprehended over 900 people, including policemen, students and parents, from different exam centres in the state, PTI reported.

The High Court strictly directly the police to take strong steps against rampant use of unfair means in examinations. But humble Kumar is not too flummoxed by the lack of limelight.

“What can I say? I feel humble and anonymous… what can I do? I’m a local block-level journalist. But yes, I feel satisfied that my picture has forced the government to act tough with mass copying and malpractices,” Rajesh Kumar told The Hindu.