KSLU Solved Question Papers
White Collar Crimes
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 White Collar Crimes 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2025 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jan examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problem is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Explain the concept of 'white collar crime'. Discuss its various kinds.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the concept: Sutherland's purpose (1939, 1949), his definition and each element, how it differs from traditional crime, and the criticism (Tappan; status; two kinds mixed); the kinds: by who benefits (occupational and corporate crime) and by field (trade and business, corporate and financial, tax, professional, official, political, cyber), with the law for each; Standard Chartered Bank, Swami Achyutanand Tirth and Sita Soren; a conclusion on why the kinds matter.
The concept
Before 1939, criminology explained crime by poverty, slums, broken homes and low intelligence. Its data came from prisons, which held mostly the poor. Edwin H. Sutherland challenged this in his presidential address to the American Sociological Society in 1939. He expanded it in his book White Collar Crime in 1949.
He studied the records of the seventy largest American corporations. Courts and commissions had decided against every one of them, for false advertising, restraint of trade, patent infringement and fraud. Rich and respected men were breaking the law at their work. So poverty could not be the general cause of crime.
He defined white collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation".
The elements of the concept
- Crime. The conduct must be punishable by law, even if a regulator, not a criminal court, usually deals with it.
- Respectability and high status. The offender is a businessman, professional or official, trusted by society.
- Occupation. The offence is committed through the work itself. A rich man's crime outside his work, such as assault at home, is not white collar crime.
- Abuse of trust. The offender uses the trust his position gives him, so the victim does not suspect him.
How it differs from traditional crime
| Point | Traditional crime | White collar crime |
|---|---|---|
| Offender | Often poor, marginal | Respectable, powerful |
| Method | Force or stealth | Deception, abuse of position |
| Victim | A known individual | Diffuse: public, revenue, consumers |
| Public attitude | Strong condemnation | Mild, often admiration |
| Usual outcome | Prosecution | Penalty, settlement or nothing |
Criticism of the concept
- Paul Tappan objected that conduct never tried in a criminal court is not "crime". Calling it crime lets the scholar, not the law, decide who is a criminal.
- Status is vague. A clerk who falsifies accounts does the same act as a director, yet lacks high status.
- Two different things are mixed. Fraud against an employer and fraud for an employer differ in motive and victim.
These criticisms led later writers to divide the subject into kinds.
The kinds by who benefits
- Occupational crime. The individual commits it for himself, often against his employer or clients. Examples are embezzlement, secret commissions and a doctor's fee-splitting.
- Corporate (organisational) crime. Officers commit it for the company's benefit. Examples are price fixing, false advertising, pollution and bribing officials for contracts.
Indian law now reaches the second kind directly. In Standard Chartered Bank v. Directorate of Enforcement, (2005) 4 SCC 530, the bank was prosecuted under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1973. It argued that a company cannot be jailed, so it cannot be tried for an offence carrying compulsory imprisonment. The Constitution Bench held that a company can be prosecuted, and the court imposes the fine. Section 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act now fines a company whose associate pays a bribe.
The kinds by field
- Trade and business crimes. Adulteration, hoarding, black marketing and selling spurious goods. The laws are the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, the Essential Commodities Act 1955 and sections 274 to 276 of the BNS.
- Corporate and financial crimes. Bank fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, cheating depositors and money laundering. The PMLA 2002 and the SEBI Act 1992 apply.
- Tax crimes. Tax evasion, false accounts and the generation of black money.
- Professional crimes. Fee-splitting and sex determination by doctors, misappropriation of client money by lawyers, and false certificates by engineers.
- Official crimes. Bribery, misappropriation and abuse of power by public servants, punished by the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
- Political crimes. Corruption in elections, buying votes, and misuse of office by ministers and legislators.
- Cyber crimes. Online fraud, data theft and identity theft by skilled persons, under the Information Technology Act 2000.
Trade crime in practice. In Swami Achyutanand Tirth v. Union of India, (2016) 9 SCC 699, a petition showed milk being adulterated with urea, detergent and caustic soda. A national survey had found 68.4 per cent of samples non-conforming. The Supreme Court directed laboratories, sampling drives and State committees, and noted the higher penalties some States had adopted.
Political crime in practice. In Sita Soren v. Union of India, 2024 INSC 161, a legislator was charged with taking a bribe to vote in a Rajya Sabha election. A seven-judge Bench held that legislators have no immunity from prosecution for bribery. The offence is complete when the bribe is accepted.
Why the kinds matter
Each kind needs its own tools. Corporate crime needs liability for companies and their officers. Professional crime needs strong regulators such as the Bar Council and the National Medical Commission. Official and political crime needs independent investigators and the removal of immunities.
Conclusion. White collar crime is Sutherland's crime of the respectable, committed through their occupation by abuse of trust. Its kinds are occupational and corporate by beneficiary, and trade, financial, tax, professional, official, political and cyber by field. Standard Chartered Bank, Swami Achyutanand Tirth and Sita Soren show the law reaching each. Classifying it shows which law and which agency must respond.
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