Arrested arts "topper" Ruby Rai broke down in court on Wednesday where her bail petition was cancelled. She is a minor, and authorities at the remand home and also at Beur Central Jail, where she was lodged before her age was proved, have found her "homely and disciplined". A resident of the Sharma Amar village in Vaishali and a student of Vishun Roy College, it was her ignorance about the basics of her subjects that blew the lid off the Intermediate topper scam. She has been booked under sections related to fraud, forgery and conspiracy. But is she a perpetrator of the scam or a victim of a system riddled with fraud and corruption? The Telegraph asked this question to a cross-section of people in Patna, trying to know what they feel about her.

System turning her into criminal

 

Refusing bail to Ruby is not justified. The girl is not to be blamed. Decisions for the offence must have been taken by her parents or other family members. If money was given to increase her marks, it must have been given by her parents or other family members. It is difficult for a minor to resist her parents. By rejecting her bail, the system is actually turning her into a criminal

VS Dubey,Retired chief secretary of undivided Bihar

She should have been released

 

It is time to ponder upon the kind of education system that leaves scope for such scams and people to indulge in them. Being a minor, Ruby must not have been aware about repercussions of the fraudulent measures. It does not matter whether she is 16 or 19 or 20 years old. At the maximum, she should have been released after being questioned by police

Clarence Pater,Education consultant

Not the real culprit

 

Ruby is a minor and she must not have been aware about the nitty-gritty of the offence that she became part of at the behest of her parents. The real culprit is the system involving her parents, officials in the state education board and people who are running the education mafia. Ruby should be granted bail on humanitarian grounds

Ratnesh Choudhary,Social activist

Administrative failure

 

The case does not relate to offence committed by a few individuals but relates to a larger social evil. It is the failure of the system to strengthen young students intellectually and morally that has created scope for unlawful practices. Administrative failure is evident as there was no internal checking system. Ruby is a victim of systemic failure as she followed what her parents asked her to do

DM Diwakar,Economics professor, AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies

Not a criminal but victim

 

Ruby is not a criminal but a victim. She, being a minor, cannot be a part of a criminal conspiracy. She is just a student who fell prey to these malpractices. The board, which was a hive of such irregularities, held a re-examination without cancelling results in the first place. She has no role to play and is the victim of a degrading educational system

Dinesh Kumar,senior high court advocate

She needs help

 

I don't know why is she being called an accused. Ask any child whether s/he would want to get top marks and the child will say yes. I feel she is getting weaker emotionally with each day. She needs an empathetic attitude from society. It is her parents, the system and the society that are responsible and not her

Binda Singh,Clinical psychologist

All should help her

 

The girl is a victim of the faults of those holding responsible posts. One should understand what she is going through. The main culprits have fled. The girl needs help from social organisations, NGOs and others. One should think hard as to what her future is going to be when she comes out of all this. Society has wronged her and it is society which can help her

Abhishek Singh,Entrepreneur

Arrest not justified

 

Ruby's arrest was not justified. She is a beneficiary of the scam but there must be many; why single her out? Arresting Ruby and further rejection of her bail only proves the administration's inability to make breakthrough in the topper scam case. They could not make relevant arrests till now - such as aides of the Lalkeshwar couple and other major actors in the scam

Shuchi Roy,Research fellow at JNU