KSLU Solved Question Papers
Criminal Law I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2024 Mar Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Criminal Law I 2024 Mar 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 2024 Mar examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2024 Mar examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2024 Mar 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 one short note/problem. (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 in detail about variations in criminal liability.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what "variations in criminal liability" means; the factors that make liability rise, fall or vanish under the Indian Penal Code: (1) the degree of the mental element, shown by one death leading to murder, culpable homicide or causing death by negligence (Virsa Singh, Alister Anthony Pareira, Jacob Mathew); (2) mistake of fact and of law (sections 76 and 79, Raj Kapoor); (3) intoxication (sections 85 and 86); (4) compulsion (section 94); (5) legally abnormal persons (sections 82 to 84); (6) the stage reached and the part played (Mahbub Shah); the Sanhita numbers; a conclusion.
What the phrase means
Two people may cause the same harm and yet be punished very differently. One may hang, another may go free. Criminal liability varies with the offender's state of mind, his capacity and the pressure he was under. It also varies with the stage his crime reached and the part he played. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 builds these variations into its definitions and its General Exceptions.
1. The degree of the mental element
The clearest example is a death. The same death can lead to three different offences.
Murder. In Virsa Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1958 SC 465, decided on 11 March 1958, the accused thrust a spear into a man's abdomen, and he died. He intended that injury, and it was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. So it was murder under section 300, clause 3, carrying death or life imprisonment.
Culpable homicide not amounting to murder. In Alister Anthony Pareira v. State of Maharashtra, (2012) 2 SCC 648, decided on 12 January 2012, a drunk driver ran onto a Mumbai pavement and killed seven sleeping labourers. He knew his act was likely to cause death, but did not intend it. So it was culpable homicide under section 304 Part II, carrying up to ten years.
Causing death by negligence. In Jacob Mathew v. State of Punjab, AIR 2005 SC 3180, decided on 5 August 2005, a patient died when an oxygen cylinder proved empty. The Supreme Court held that for section 304A the negligence must be gross. Without that, there is no crime at all, though there may be civil liability.
So intention, knowledge, rashness and negligence mark four steps down the ladder of liability.
2. Mistake
Mistake of fact excuses; mistake of law does not. Sections 76 and 79 protect a person who makes a mistake of fact in good faith. If he believes he is bound or justified by law to act, his act is no offence. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Facts. In Raj Kapoor v. Laxman, AIR 1980 SC 605, decided on 14 December 1979, the producer of a film was prosecuted for obscenity under section 292. The film had been certified by the Central Board of Film Censors.
Held. The prosecution was quashed. Section 79 turns what would be an offence into a non-offence. The producer was protected by his good faith belief that the certificate justified the exhibition.
3. Intoxication
- Involuntary intoxication (section 85). A person made drunk without his knowledge or against his will is excused. He must have been unable to know the nature of the act, or that it was wrong.
- Voluntary intoxication (section 86). A person who drinks by choice is treated as having the knowledge he would have had if sober. His liability does not fall merely because he was drunk.
4. Compulsion
Under section 94, nothing is an offence if done under threats that reasonably cause fear of instant death. Two limits apply. It never excuses murder or offences against the State punishable with death. And it does not help a person who placed himself in that situation of his own accord.
5. Legally abnormal persons
- A child under seven commits no offence (section 82).
- A child of seven to twelve commits no offence if not mature enough to understand the nature and consequences of his act (section 83).
- A person of unsound mind commits no offence if, at the time, he could not know the nature of the act (section 84). The same applies if he could not know it was wrong or illegal. The test is legal, not medical, insanity.
6. The stage reached and the part played
- Stage. Bare intention is not punished, preparation only rarely, an attempt usually by up to half the punishment (section 511), and the completed offence fully.
- Part played. A person who joins others may be liable for their act. Under section 34 he is liable as if he did it alone, but only where a common intention links them.
In Mahbub Shah v. Emperor, (1945) 47 Bom LR 941, decided on 31 January 1945, two men came with guns to help a friend, and one killed a man. The Privy Council held that section 34 needs a pre-arranged plan. Similar intention is not common intention, so the appellant's murder conviction was set aside.
Under the Sanhita
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 keeps every one of these rules. Murder and culpable homicide are sections 101 to 105, and causing death by negligence is section 106. The General Exceptions are sections 14 to 44. They include mistake (sections 14 and 17), infancy and insanity (sections 20 to 22), intoxication (sections 23 and 24) and compulsion (section 32). Common intention is section 3(5).
Conclusion. Criminal liability is not fixed by the harm alone. It varies with the offender's mental state. The same death was murder in Virsa Singh and culpable homicide in Alister Anthony Pareira, but no crime in Jacob Mathew. It falls away for honest mistakes of fact (Raj Kapoor), involuntary intoxication, compulsion by threat of death, infancy and insanity. It also varies with the stage reached and with the part each person played, as Mahbub Shah shows. The Sanhita keeps these variations unchanged.
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