The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday said that a question on the 2002 Gujarat communal riots asked in its class 12 sociology Term 1 board paper was inappropriate and in violation of its guidelines.
It also said that strict action would be taken against "responsible persons".
"A question has been asked in today's class 12 sociology Term 1 exam which is inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines for external subject experts for setting question papers. CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons," the board said in an official statement.
The multiple-choice question — "The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which government?" — was part of the term 1 question paper.
The options offered were -- Congress, BJP, Democratic and Republican.
It further added that CBSE guidelines for paper setters outlined that questions should be academic-oriented and should be class and religion-neutral. "Questions should not touch upon domains that could harm sentiments of people based on social and political choices."
However, a board official said that with papers now being evaluated at the exam centres immediately after the exam, there was no time to explore options such as scratching the question and awarding universal full marks or grace marks. So, whoever answered "BJP" was awarded marks.
Over a thousand people were killed in riots after a coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt in Gujarat's Godhra in 2002. The train was carrying Hindu pilgrims; 59 of them died in the fire.
In a closure report in February 2012, a special investigation team exonerated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002, and 63 others citing "no prosecutable evidence".