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Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC) MCQs for CLAT PG, Page 2

CLAT PG Law of Crimes II (BNSS-CrPC) questions 26-50 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 - Compounding and Quashing

Compounding and quashing overlap only at the level of practical outcome. In legal structure they are distinct. Compounding is statutory. It is allowed only where the code says so and in the manner the code permits. Quashing under inherent powers is broader in source but more disciplined in use. It exists not to reward settlement for its own sake, but to prevent abuse of process and secure justice where ordinary procedure would otherwise distort the law's purposes. That is why the case law differentiates between disputes that are predominantly private and offences whose social dimension is too weighty to be dissolved by compromise. The question is not merely whether the victim and accused have settled. The question is whether the court, as a public institution, can responsibly allow the prosecution to disappear without undermining the criminal law's broader integrity. Voluntariness of settlement matters, but so does the character of the offence, the stage of proceedings, and whether continuation would serve any real legal purpose.

Question 26MediumCompounding and Quashing

According to the passage, compounding and quashing are similar only in:

  1. A

    Their legal source

  2. B

    Their practical consequence that proceedings may come to an end

  3. C

    Their complete disregard of public interest

  4. D

    Their exclusive dependence on police approval

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Their practical consequence that proceedings may come to an end

The passage begins by saying they overlap at the level of practical outcome, but diverge significantly in legal structure and controlling principles.

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

Question 27HardCompounding and Quashing

The passage's central warning is that settlement does not by itself answer:

  1. A

    How many witnesses exist

  2. B

    Whether public justice permits the prosecution to disappear

  3. C

    Whether the FIR was typed

  4. D

    Whether the court has jurisdiction

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Whether public justice permits the prosecution to disappear

The passage emphasises that the judicial question is institutional and public, not merely private. Compromise is relevant, but not self-justifying.

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

Question 28HardCompounding and Quashing

The statement that inherent powers are 'broader in source but more disciplined in use' means:

  1. A

    The High Court can quash whenever it wishes

  2. B

    The doctrinal source is wide, but the judicial attitude must remain restrained and principled

  3. C

    The power exists only for minor offences

  4. D

    The statute entirely controls inherent power

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The doctrinal source is wide, but the judicial attitude must remain restrained and principled

The passage explains that inherent power is extraordinary. Its availability does not mean casual invocation; indeed, its exceptional nature demands restraint.

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

Question 29MediumCompounding and Quashing

The passage treats voluntariness of settlement as necessary but not sufficient because the court must also ask:

  1. A

    Whether the accused has apologised

  2. B

    Whether the offence's nature allows the law to responsibly accept private resolution

  3. C

    Whether the FIR was prompt

  4. D

    Whether the complainant has legal training

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Whether the offence's nature allows the law to responsibly accept private resolution

The passage clearly says that voluntariness matters, but the court must still assess the public-private character of the offence and the integrity of the legal process.

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

Question 30EasyCompounding and Quashing

The passage's best account of quashing is that it exists to:

  1. A

    Make trial unnecessary wherever parties settle

  2. B

    Prevent abuse of process and secure justice where ordinary procedure would misfire

  3. C

    Replace the code of criminal procedure

  4. D

    Transfer every case to civil court

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Prevent abuse of process and secure justice where ordinary procedure would misfire

This is the doctrinal core of inherent quashing power as described in the passage.

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

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Trial Fairness

The trial stage reminds us that criminal procedure is not only about controlling investigation and custody. It is also about designing a forum in which accusation can be tested through rules of proof. Discharge and framing of charge occupy different thresholds. Discharge asks whether there is sufficient ground to proceed at all. Framing of charge does not require proof beyond reasonable doubt, but it still demands that the materials justify calling the accused to answer. Once trial begins, supply of documents and the right to cross-examination stop fairness from becoming rhetorical. Even the court's power to question the accused on incriminating circumstances exists because it would be unfair to rely on adverse material without offering an opportunity for explanation. Delay, meanwhile, is not a mere managerial inconvenience. It can degrade memory, intensify stigma, weaken defence preparation, and corrode public confidence. Procedure therefore has to be judged not only by whether it reaches an endpoint, but by whether it gets there through a route consistent with dignity and reliability.

Question 31MediumTrial Fairness

The passage presents discharge and framing of charge as different because they occupy:

  1. A

    The same threshold and function

  2. B

    Different thresholds within the movement from accusation toward trial

  3. C

    Only civil procedure

  4. D

    The sentencing stage

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Different thresholds within the movement from accusation toward trial

The passage says discharge asks whether the case should proceed at all, while charge framing asks whether there is enough to call upon the accused to answer.

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

Question 32EasyTrial Fairness

The role of cross-examination in the passage is to:

  1. A

    Delay the case for its own sake

  2. B

    Test adverse material in a way essential to fairness

  3. C

    Replace the judge's reasoning

  4. D

    Make witnesses unnecessary

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Test adverse material in a way essential to fairness

The passage treats cross-examination as one of the central procedural devices through which fairness becomes real rather than rhetorical.

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

Question 33MediumTrial Fairness

The court's power to question the accused on incriminating circumstances is linked in the passage to:

  1. A

    A duty to force confession

  2. B

    A fairness principle that adverse material should not be used without an opportunity for explanation

  3. C

    The prosecution's right to silence

  4. D

    Automatic discharge

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. A fairness principle that adverse material should not be used without an opportunity for explanation

The passage presents judicial questioning of the accused as part of the fairness architecture, not as a substitute for proof or a coercive confession device.

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

Question 34EasyTrial Fairness

The passage's treatment of delay is strongest on which point?

  1. A

    Delay is always neutral

  2. B

    Delay can itself damage reliability, defence preparation, and institutional legitimacy

  3. C

    Delay helps all accused

  4. D

    Delay is relevant only after conviction

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Delay can itself damage reliability, defence preparation, and institutional legitimacy

The passage goes beyond convenience and treats delay as something that affects accuracy, dignity, and public confidence.

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

Question 35HardTrial Fairness

The best synthesis of the passage is that trial procedure is judged not merely by endpoint, but by:

  1. A

    Public applause

  2. B

    Whether the route to decision remains participatory, intelligible, and proof-based

  3. C

    How many dates were given

  4. D

    Whether the police diary was thick

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Whether the route to decision remains participatory, intelligible, and proof-based

The passage's final line is that procedure must be judged by the character of the route to adjudication, not merely by whether some endpoint was reached.

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

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - BNSS Reform Analysis

The shift from the CrPC to the BNSS has renewed debate over what criminal procedure reform should actually mean. The new procedural language highlights digital reporting, electronic communication, audio-video methods, and a more self-conscious engagement with technological realities. Yet the most serious critique of reform packages is that they may modernise the text without modernising institutional behaviour. A police station that still resists registration, an investigating agency that treats arrest as routine, or a court that remands mechanically can empty a reforming statute of much of its promise. Digital tools may help preserve records and reduce disputes, but they also create new demands for privacy-sensitive handling, chain of custody, and meaningful supervision. The deeper lesson is that procedural modernity is not measured by the number of electronic interfaces a code recognises. It is measured by whether power becomes more transparent, reviewable, and rights-compliant in daily use.

Question 36EasyBNSS Reform Analysis

The passage is most sceptical of which claim?

  1. A

    That digital tools may improve record-keeping

  2. B

    That textual modernisation alone amounts to real criminal justice reform

  3. C

    That liberty and transparency still matter under BNSS

  4. D

    That audio-video methods may reduce factual disputes

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. That textual modernisation alone amounts to real criminal justice reform

The passage repeatedly warns against mistaking new statutory language for actual institutional transformation.

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

Question 37MediumBNSS Reform Analysis

The emphasis on daily institutional use in the passage suggests that procedural reform should be measured by:

  1. A

    Slogans alone

  2. B

    How police stations, investigators, courts, and prisons actually behave under the new framework

  3. C

    The number of new abbreviations introduced

  4. D

    The size of the statute book

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. How police stations, investigators, courts, and prisons actually behave under the new framework

The passage insists that implementation, not merely drafting ambition, determines whether reform is real.

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

Question 38HardBNSS Reform Analysis

Which of the following best captures the passage's view of digitalisation?

  1. A

    Digitalisation is inherently anti-constitutional

  2. B

    Digitalisation can help, but it also intensifies the need for transparent, rights-compliant handling of data and process

  3. C

    Digitalisation removes all need for judges

  4. D

    Digitalisation is relevant only in civil law

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Digitalisation can help, but it also intensifies the need for transparent, rights-compliant handling of data and process

The passage treats technology as potentially useful but never self-justifying. It deepens the need for chain of custody, privacy, and supervision.

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

Question 39MediumBNSS Reform Analysis

The phrase 'modernity is not measured by the number of electronic interfaces a code recognises' is used to make which point?

  1. A

    Codes should avoid technology entirely

  2. B

    Technological form without rights-sensitive institutional practice is an empty version of reform

  3. C

    Digital reporting is always unconstitutional

  4. D

    Electronic records are unimportant

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Technological form without rights-sensitive institutional practice is an empty version of reform

The line summarises the passage's central critique: reform must change how power is used, not merely how processes are labelled or mediated.

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

Question 40EasyBNSS Reform Analysis

The passage's broadest criterion for successful procedural reform is whether power becomes:

  1. A

    Faster, even if less fair

  2. B

    More transparent, reviewable, and rights-compliant in daily operation

  3. C

    More centralised in the police alone

  4. D

    Less documented

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. More transparent, reviewable, and rights-compliant in daily operation

This is the passage's concluding measure of procedural modernity and the clearest standard it offers for evaluation.

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

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Search and Digital Evidence

The law of search and seizure demonstrates how difficult it is to balance truth-finding and restraint. On one side lies the need to gather relevant evidence before it disappears. On the other lies the danger that intrusive powers will become fishing expeditions into unrelated private life. This tension is especially sharp in digital search. A phone or laptop is not just a container. It may hold entire histories of personal, professional, and associative life. That is why chain of custody, proper imaging, sealing, metadata integrity, and careful documentation are central to reliability. Indian law has not adopted a simple one-line rule that every irregular search automatically makes every recovered item unusable. But neither does it treat method as irrelevant. Courts look closely at legality, fairness, authenticity, and prejudice. In practice, the more the prosecution depends on technical or digital evidence, the more procedural discipline in collection and preservation matters to the credibility of the case.

Question 41EasySearch and Digital Evidence

The passage describes the central tension of search and seizure law as a balance between:

  1. A

    Punishment and sentencing

  2. B

    Truth-finding and restraint

  3. C

    Appeal and revision

  4. D

    Witness and prosecutor

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Truth-finding and restraint

The opening of the passage frames search and seizure as a balance between evidence collection and protection against intrusive overreach.

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

Question 42MediumSearch and Digital Evidence

The reason phones and laptops are treated with special concern in the passage is that they:

  1. A

    Are always irrelevant to crime

  2. B

    May contain expansive records of personal and professional life beyond the immediate case

  3. C

    Cannot be lawfully seized

  4. D

    Are easier to preserve than paper

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. May contain expansive records of personal and professional life beyond the immediate case

The passage highlights the density of personal life stored in devices, which sharpens the privacy and proportionality concerns around search.

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

Question 43HardSearch and Digital Evidence

Which proposition best fits the passage's account of irregular search consequences in Indian law?

  1. A

    Every irregularity automatically destroys evidentiary use

  2. B

    Method never matters if the evidence looks relevant

  3. C

    Courts tend to scrutinise legality, fairness, authenticity, and prejudice rather than follow a one-line automatic rule

  4. D

    Digital evidence is always excluded

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Courts tend to scrutinise legality, fairness, authenticity, and prejudice rather than follow a one-line automatic rule

The passage expressly rejects simplistic automatic rules and instead emphasises a more nuanced judicial scrutiny.

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

Question 44MediumSearch and Digital Evidence

The passage links chain of custody most directly to:

  1. A

    Jurisdiction

  2. B

    Reliability and authenticity of the recovered material

  3. C

    Sentence enhancement

  4. D

    Witness hostility

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Reliability and authenticity of the recovered material

Chain of custody matters because it preserves confidence that the item later produced in court is the same item seized and that it has not been altered.

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

Question 45EasySearch and Digital Evidence

The passage's strongest warning about intrusive powers is that they may otherwise become:

  1. A

    Too technologically sophisticated

  2. B

    Fishing expeditions into unrelated private life

  3. C

    Impossible to document

  4. D

    Available only in urban areas

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Fishing expeditions into unrelated private life

This is the central abuse concern named in the passage, especially acute in digital search contexts.

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

Passage or principleLexMentor Notes - Victims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

Victim participation, witness protection, and legal aid together reveal that criminal procedure cannot be reduced to a duel between police and accused. Victims have interests in dignity, information, and meaningful institutional response. Witnesses need protection if truth is to be spoken without fear. Accused persons require disclosure, counsel, and time to answer the case in a meaningful way. None of these values cancels the others. The legitimacy of criminal adjudication depends on holding them in balance. That is why procedure does not become fair merely because it is fast, nor unfair merely because it is protective. The real question is whether coercive power is used through intelligible rules that permit the system to find facts reliably while treating all participants as legal persons rather than as administrative obstacles. In that sense, fair trial is not a favour conferred by the State. It is the condition on which the State earns the authority to punish at all.

Question 46EasyVictims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

The passage's central thesis is that criminal procedure cannot be reduced to:

  1. A

    Balancing multiple participant interests

  2. B

    A two-sided duel between police and accused

  3. C

    A structure of fair trial values

  4. D

    Institutional legitimacy

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. A two-sided duel between police and accused

The very first line of the passage states that criminal procedure cannot be reduced to a duel between police and accused because victims, witnesses, and legal aid also matter.

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

Question 47MediumVictims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

Witness protection is treated in the passage as important mainly because:

  1. A

    Witnesses should never be cross-examined

  2. B

    Reliable fact-finding depends on the ability of witnesses to speak without fear

  3. C

    Witnesses replace the judge

  4. D

    Witnesses become prosecutors

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Reliable fact-finding depends on the ability of witnesses to speak without fear

The passage links witness protection directly to truth-finding. Intimidated testimony weakens the quality of adjudication itself.

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

Question 48MediumVictims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

Legal aid is described as more than welfare because it is also:

  1. A

    A structural condition for meaningful access to justice

  2. B

    A reward for high-performing students

  3. C

    A substitute for evidence

  4. D

    Relevant only after appeal

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. A structural condition for meaningful access to justice

The passage says legal aid helps ensure accused persons are treated as legal persons capable of meeting the State's case, not as passive administrative objects.

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

Question 49HardVictims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

The passage's idea of fair trial is best described as:

  1. A

    Exclusive fairness to the accused alone

  2. B

    Exclusive fairness to the victim alone

  3. C

    A balanced system that treats all participants with legal dignity while preserving reliable fact-finding

  4. D

    Administrative speed alone

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. A balanced system that treats all participants with legal dignity while preserving reliable fact-finding

The passage treats fair trial as a balancing structure that includes accused, victim, witness, counsel, and the court's truth-finding function.

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

Question 50MediumVictims, Witnesses, and Legal Aid

The final sentence of the passage suggests that fair trial is fundamentally:

  1. A

    A charitable choice made by the State

  2. B

    The condition on which the State earns authority to punish

  3. C

    A secondary procedural luxury

  4. D

    Relevant only in appellate courts

View answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The condition on which the State earns authority to punish

The passage ends by stating that fair trial is not a favour. It is the basis on which penal power becomes legitimate at all.

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

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