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Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC) MCQs for CLAT PG

CLAT PG Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC) questions 1-25 of 100, with answer keys and explanations covering criminal courts, arrest, investigation, bail, charge, trial, evidence procedure, appeal, revision, and the BNSS.

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Revise core LLB subjects through CLAT PG MCQs, passage-led questions, answer keys, explanations, statutes, and exam-oriented legal principles.

  • Advanced Bail Doctrine5
  • Advanced FIR Doctrine5
  • Anticipatory Bail5
  • Arrest and Necessity5
  • Arrest Safeguards5
  • Bail Basics5
  • BNSS Reform Analysis5
  • BNSS Reforms5
  • Compounding and Quashing10
  • Custody and Default Bail5
  • Default Bail5
  • FIR and Lalita Kumari5
  • Investigation and Magistrate Oversight5
  • Investigation and Oversight5
  • Search and Digital Evidence5
  • Trial Fairness5
  • Trial Process5
  • Victims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid5
  • Zero FIR and Evidentiary Role of FIR5
Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Advanced FIR Doctrine

The early architecture of criminal procedure depends on a disciplined distinction between disclosure and proof. An FIR is expected to record the earliest information that discloses a cognizable offence, not to resolve whether the allegation will ultimately be proved. That is why Lalita Kumari treated registration as ordinarily mandatory where cognizable information is disclosed. The danger of postponing registration is not merely administrative delay. It is that the police station may become an informal adjudicatory gatekeeper, deciding whose complaint deserves to enter the system. Yet the law also recognises that not every first communication is necessarily an FIR. A cryptic call for assistance may only summon police presence. A later, fuller statement may become the real first information if that is the first communication that meaningfully discloses the offence and is intended to set the criminal process in motion. The doctrine against multiple FIRs for the same transaction similarly reflects concern that criminal process should have a coherent starting point rather than a proliferating series of foundational narratives by the same side.

Question 1MediumAdvanced FIR Doctrine

Which proposition best captures the passage's view of the FIR stage?

  1. A

    The FIR stage is the proper point for detailed adjudication of credibility

  2. B

    The FIR stage is a threshold stage focused on disclosure rather than proof

  3. C

    The FIR stage is irrelevant once trial begins

  4. D

    The FIR stage is identical to final charge framing

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The FIR stage is a threshold stage focused on disclosure rather than proof

The passage repeatedly distinguishes disclosure from proof and presents the FIR as a threshold stage rather than a merits adjudication.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 2HardAdvanced FIR Doctrine

The passage treats a cryptic call for police help as potentially insufficient to be an FIR because:

  1. A

    Telephones cannot be used in criminal law

  2. B

    It may summon assistance without meaningfully disclosing the offence in a way intended to set the law in motion

  3. C

    Only written documents can ever be FIRs

  4. D

    All telephonic communications are inadmissible

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. It may summon assistance without meaningfully disclosing the offence in a way intended to set the law in motion

The issue is not medium but content and intention. A bare call for help may not have enough factual disclosure to operate as the foundational FIR.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 3MediumAdvanced FIR Doctrine

The concern behind the doctrine against multiple FIRs in the same transaction is primarily:

  1. A

    A preference for short paperwork

  2. B

    The need for a coherent procedural starting point and avoidance of proliferating foundational narratives

  3. C

    A ban on all subsequent statements

  4. D

    A rule that only one witness may speak

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The need for a coherent procedural starting point and avoidance of proliferating foundational narratives

The passage explains that successive foundational narratives from the same side can destabilise procedural coherence and create abuse.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 4HardAdvanced FIR Doctrine

Which of the following is least supported by the passage?

  1. A

    Registration and proof are distinct stages

  2. B

    Not every first-in-time communication will necessarily be the FIR

  3. C

    Lalita Kumari allows the police to routinely insist on prior verification before registration

  4. D

    A communication intended to set the law in motion may become the real first information

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Lalita Kumari allows the police to routinely insist on prior verification before registration

The passage's entire point is that routine verification before registration is contrary to Lalita Kumari once cognizable information is disclosed.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 5HardAdvanced FIR Doctrine

The deepest structural idea in the passage is that criminal procedure should resist:

  1. A

    All forms of police work

  2. B

    The conversion of the police station into an informal adjudicatory gatekeeper

  3. C

    The existence of written records

  4. D

    The making of later witness statements

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The conversion of the police station into an informal adjudicatory gatekeeper

The passage identifies station-level gatekeeping as the systemic danger against which Lalita Kumari and related FIR doctrine are directed.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Arrest and Necessity

Arrest is legally authorised in many situations, but modern criminal procedure increasingly refuses to equate possession of power with necessity of exercise. Arnesh Kumar and related arrest jurisprudence reflect a shift from authority alone to justification. D.K. Basu meanwhile insists that custody must be visible and documented through arrest memo, communication to relatives or friends, and medical safeguards. The rights of the arrested person are not abstract moral ideals. They are practical procedural conditions that make later review possible. A notice-of-appearance model in appropriate cases serves the same logic. If the presence of the accused and the needs of investigation can be secured without custody, unnecessary arrest begins to look less like process and more like punishment in advance. The core constitutional anxiety is not simply whether the law allowed arrest in some technical sense. It is whether the State used one of its most coercive tools in a manner proportionate to a legitimate procedural need.

Question 6MediumArrest and Necessity

The passage suggests that modern arrest law is moving from power to:

  1. A

    Silence

  2. B

    Justification and necessity

  3. C

    Automatic conviction

  4. D

    Judicial passivity

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Justification and necessity

The passage explicitly says current doctrine asks not merely whether power existed, but whether its exercise was justified and necessary.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 7MediumArrest and Necessity

Notice of appearance is valuable in the passage because it:

  1. A

    Prevents all future prosecution

  2. B

    Can secure cooperation without unnecessary custody where lawful conditions permit

  3. C

    Replaces bail

  4. D

    Makes investigation impossible

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Can secure cooperation without unnecessary custody where lawful conditions permit

The passage treats notice as a liberty-sensitive tool that preserves investigation while reducing needless coercion.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 8HardArrest and Necessity

D.K. Basu safeguards are presented in the passage primarily as:

  1. A

    Formalities that rarely matter

  2. B

    Practical devices that make later legal review possible

  3. C

    Rules applicable only after conviction

  4. D

    Optional good practices

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Practical devices that make later legal review possible

The passage emphasises visibility, documentation, and communication precisely because those things allow challenge, review, and accountability.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 9MediumArrest and Necessity

Which proposition is most consistent with the passage?

  1. A

    Every lawful arrest is constitutionally necessary

  2. B

    Necessity and legality are separate but related questions

  3. C

    Arrest jurisprudence has nothing to do with liberty

  4. D

    Arrest cannot be reviewed if the statute mentions the offence

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Necessity and legality are separate but related questions

The passage carefully distinguishes mere legal authority from justified exercise of authority in the facts of the case.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 10HardArrest and Necessity

The passage's broad constitutional anxiety is that arrest may otherwise become:

  1. A

    A logistical inconvenience only

  2. B

    Punishment in advance of adjudicated guilt

  3. C

    A form of civil compromise

  4. D

    An issue of jurisdiction alone

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Punishment in advance of adjudicated guilt

The passage repeatedly warns against using one of the State's most coercive powers without demonstrated procedural need, which makes arrest resemble pre-trial punishment.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Investigation and Oversight

Investigation is not adjudication, but it is not immune from law either. Police statements are gathered to assist inquiry, yet they are not given the same evidentiary status as testimony tested in court. The same structural logic explains the importance of case diaries, seizure memos, and chain of custody. These documents do not prove guilt by themselves, but they preserve the procedural integrity through which later adjudication becomes possible. A Magistrate's powers at the pre-trial stage must be understood in the same light. The pre-cognizance route that directs police investigation is not identical to the post-cognizance complaint route. Priyanka Srivastava's insistence on seriousness and affidavit-backed responsibility was a warning against treating the investigation-directing power as a private weapon. Likewise, a closure report is not final merely because the investigating agency so describes it. Judicial oversight persists precisely because the criminal process belongs to law, not to the unilateral control of the complainant, the police, or the accused.

Question 11MediumInvestigation and Oversight

The passage most strongly supports which proposition?

  1. A

    Investigation is outside law until trial begins

  2. B

    Investigation is executive in form but legally disciplined in method and review

  3. C

    Case diaries are substantive proof of guilt

  4. D

    Closure reports bind the court automatically

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Investigation is executive in form but legally disciplined in method and review

The passage explains that investigation is not adjudication, yet it remains bounded by legal structure, documentation, and judicial oversight.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 12HardInvestigation and Oversight

The difference between the pre-cognizance investigation-directing route and the post-cognizance complaint route matters because it affects:

  1. A

    Only which register is used

  2. B

    Which institutional actor mainly drives the next procedural stage

  3. C

    Whether the complainant exists

  4. D

    Whether the case can be appealed

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Which institutional actor mainly drives the next procedural stage

The passage says the distinction is structural. One route turns to police investigation, while the other remains in a court-managed complaint pathway.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 13MediumInvestigation and Oversight

The limited evidentiary use of police statements is used in the passage to illustrate:

  1. A

    That investigation and trial occupy different legal positions

  2. B

    That witnesses may never change their minds

  3. C

    That trial is unnecessary

  4. D

    That only Magistrates may question witnesses

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. That investigation and trial occupy different legal positions

The passage uses police statements as an example of how investigatory material assists process without replacing courtroom proof.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 14HardInvestigation and Oversight

Priyanka Srivastava's concern, as described in the passage, is most directly about preventing:

  1. A

    All applications to Magistrates

  2. B

    The casual or vindictive use of investigation-directing power

  3. C

    The filing of affidavits

  4. D

    Police oversight by courts

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The casual or vindictive use of investigation-directing power

The passage links the case to seriousness, responsibility, and the need to stop weaponisation of Magistrate-stage criminal procedure.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 15MediumInvestigation and Oversight

The passage presents closure reports as:

  1. A

    Automatically conclusive

  2. B

    Open to judicial response because the criminal process is not under unilateral police control

  3. C

    Equivalent to acquittal

  4. D

    Legally meaningless documents

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Open to judicial response because the criminal process is not under unilateral police control

Closure reports matter, but the court retains options because the criminal process belongs to law rather than to a single institutional actor.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Custody and Default Bail

Custody after arrest is constitutionally sensitive because time changes the meaning of detention. Immediate production before a Magistrate protects against secret executive confinement. Police custody is viewed with special caution because the investigating agency retains direct physical control. Judicial custody, by contrast, preserves detention while reducing the intensity of direct investigative domination. That is why the law treats the early custody window with care, and why reasoned remand orders matter. Default bail deepens the same logic. It does not ask whether the prosecution case is weak. It asks whether the State, having chosen to keep a person in custody while investigating, has completed investigation within the time the law permits. A later filing cannot ordinarily defeat a right that has already matured through expiry of time plus proper invocation. But if the right is not invoked before the prosecution cures the defect, the ordinary claim may vanish. The doctrine is therefore not a reward for clever timing. It is a structured insistence that liberty cannot remain hostage to open-ended investigative delay.

Question 16EasyCustody and Default Bail

The passage treats immediate production before a Magistrate as important chiefly because it:

  1. A

    Improves police convenience

  2. B

    Protects against secret executive detention

  3. C

    Guarantees eventual acquittal

  4. D

    Eliminates need for remand orders

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Protects against secret executive detention

The passage ties prompt production to the constitutional concern that the executive cannot hold a person invisibly and unreviewably.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 17HardCustody and Default Bail

Why does the passage say time changes the meaning of detention?

  1. A

    Because judicial custody becomes civil

  2. B

    Because continued custody without timely investigative completion increasingly burdens liberty and requires stronger legal justification

  3. C

    Because all remand after one week is illegal

  4. D

    Because trial must always end within ninety days

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Because continued custody without timely investigative completion increasingly burdens liberty and requires stronger legal justification

The passage links passing time to the deepening constitutional seriousness of detention, especially when the State has not completed investigation within the statutory window.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 18MediumCustody and Default Bail

According to the passage, default bail is not mainly about:

  1. A

    Investigative discipline

  2. B

    Procedural protection of liberty

  3. C

    Assessment of the moral or evidentiary strength of the prosecution case

  4. D

    The statutory consequences of delay

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Assessment of the moral or evidentiary strength of the prosecution case

The passage emphasises that default bail is not merits bail. It is a procedural entitlement linked to custody and time limits.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 19HardCustody and Default Bail

The passage's account of later filing after expiry of time suggests that such a filing:

  1. A

    Always defeats the accused's claim

  2. B

    Cannot ordinarily defeat a right that has already matured through proper invocation

  3. C

    Makes the statutory period meaningless

  4. D

    Converts default bail into anticipatory bail

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Cannot ordinarily defeat a right that has already matured through proper invocation

The passage clearly says that a later filing cannot ordinarily defeat a matured right, though failure to invoke the right in time may matter.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 20MediumCustody and Default Bail

The unifying logic of remand discipline and default bail in the passage is:

  1. A

    Administrative neatness

  2. B

    Judicial insistence that personal liberty cannot be subordinated indefinitely to open-ended investigation

  3. C

    Abolition of criminal process

  4. D

    Mandatory acquittal after delay

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Judicial insistence that personal liberty cannot be subordinated indefinitely to open-ended investigation

The passage presents both doctrines as ways of preventing liberty from disappearing into procedural inertia.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Advanced Bail Doctrine

Bail doctrine reveals how criminal procedure negotiates risk without abandoning the presumption of innocence. In bailable offences, the legislative judgment already leans toward release. In non-bailable offences, the court asks more searching questions about absconding, witness intimidation, tampering, antecedents, seriousness, and whether custody is still genuinely necessary. Anticipatory bail complicates the picture further because it operates before arrest. Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia refused to imprison the remedy inside rigid extra-statutory restrictions, while Sushila Aggarwal resisted a blanket rule of automatic short duration. The result is a jurisprudence of structured discretion rather than mechanical formulas. Gravity of accusation matters, but gravity alone does not answer whether arrest or continued detention is needed. Nor does parity mean blind equality between co-accused whose roles differ materially. In the same way, cancellation of bail is not merely an appeal against the original grant. Once liberty has been granted, the court ordinarily looks for misuse, obstruction, or another serious supervening ground before withdrawing it.

Question 21EasyAdvanced Bail Doctrine

The passage treats bail doctrine as a negotiation between:

  1. A

    Only police and courts

  2. B

    Liberty and procedural risk

  3. C

    Victims and taxation

  4. D

    Evidence and sentencing

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Liberty and procedural risk

The opening sentence of the passage explicitly frames bail as a way of negotiating risk without abandoning the presumption of innocence.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 22MediumAdvanced Bail Doctrine

The contrast between anticipatory bail and ordinary bail in the passage rests mainly on the fact that anticipatory bail:

  1. A

    Operates before arrest and regulates the arrest dimension of the process

  2. B

    Can be granted only after charge-sheet

  3. C

    Never carries conditions

  4. D

    Depends only on the complainant's preference

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. Operates before arrest and regulates the arrest dimension of the process

The passage describes anticipatory bail as pre-arrest protection, which is what distinguishes it from ordinary post-arrest bail decisions.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 23HardAdvanced Bail Doctrine

The passage invokes parity mainly to show that parity:

  1. A

    Requires identical outcomes for all co-accused

  2. B

    Promotes consistency but cannot erase differences in role and risk

  3. C

    Applies only in economic offences

  4. D

    Replaces judicial discretion

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Promotes consistency but cannot erase differences in role and risk

The passage makes clear that parity is not blind equality. It is a consistency principle constrained by factual differentiation.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 24MediumAdvanced Bail Doctrine

Cancellation of bail is described as different from refusal of bail because cancellation generally requires:

  1. A

    The judge's dissatisfaction with the original order alone

  2. B

    A serious supervening reason such as misuse or obstruction

  3. C

    No reasons if the offence is serious

  4. D

    A separate trial first

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. A serious supervening reason such as misuse or obstruction

The passage says liberty, once granted, is not lightly withdrawn. This is why cancellation looks for misuse or comparable developments.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

Question 25HardAdvanced Bail Doctrine

The passage rejects which oversimplified approach to bail?

  1. A

    That gravity matters

  2. B

    That gravity alone answers every custody question

  3. C

    That anticipatory bail may carry conditions

  4. D

    That co-accused may have different roles

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. That gravity alone answers every custody question

The passage repeatedly insists that seriousness is only one factor and that risk, role, necessity, and fairness all matter.

Source note: LexMentor Notes, Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC); India Code BNSS 2023

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