India’s lower house of parliament approved a bill on Wednesday that would toughen penalties for leaking exam papers, after youth-led protests calling for sweeping reforms forced the education minister to resign.

The legislation would double the maximum jail term for those involved in leaking exam papers to 10 years and raise the maximum fine to more than $1 million.

Lawmakers approved the bill by a voice vote after a raucous, hours-long debate, according to India’s public broadcaster.

The legislation will next be put to a vote in the upper house, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance holds a majority.

The vote follows weeks of mass protests over leaked exam papers and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.

The protests, spearheaded by the online Cockroach Janta Party movement, drew massive support from students across the country and presented a major challenge to Modi’s government.

Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party said he could relate to the frustration among India’s youth over the state of the education system.

“This was not anger… this was not hatred, this was deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel that all political parties must respect this expression,” he said in a speech in the house.

Senior minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday told parliament that the amendments, which the cabinet greenlighted last week, reflect a “deep commitment to safeguard the welfare of the students and the youth of this country”.

Following the vote, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailed “a significant step forward towards further strengthening the integrity of India’s examination system”.

“The Bill provides for stricter punishments, Special Fast Track Courts, time-bound investigations, Special Public Prosecutors and an expedited appellate mechanism to ensure that those involved in paper leaks and organised examination fraud are swiftly brought to justice,” Singh said on X.

Despite rapid economic growth in the world’s most populous country, millions of young people face a shortage of well-paid jobs and fierce competition for careers.

The intense pressure to succeed has fuelled a vast network of coaching centres and created opportunities for criminal groups to profit by selling leaked exam questions.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, such leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.

‘Hit the streets’

Demonstrations over the paper leaks in New Delhi turned violent on July 20, when huge crowds attempted to march towards parliament from the capital’s Jantar Mantar protest site.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.

The parliament reconvened last week for its monsoon session, with the first few days repeatedly disrupted by opposition lawmakers seeking accountability over a police crackdown on the student-led protests.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of all detained protesters who are under the age of 18 and have no prior criminal record.

But the ongoing police investigations related to the clashes and street violence have become a contentious issue.

The Cockroach Janta Party movement has accused the government of reneging on one of the promises it had made when activists called off street rallies, not to investigate any protesters.

The “government should stop with this”, the movement’s founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Wednesday.

“Those students were protesting for their future, not for fun,” he added. “If the government doesn’t listen, we will hit the streets again”.