KSLU Solved Question Papers
Criminal Law I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2025 Jun (IPC paper) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Criminal Law I 2025 Jun (IPC paper) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jun (IPC paper) 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 Jun (IPC paper) 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
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 possible parties to the crime. How the liabilities of parties varies ?[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the four parties to a crime at common law; how the Indian Penal Code reaches each without those labels; joint liability under sections 34 to 38 (now section 3(5) to (9) of the Sanhita), with Mahbub Shah; the abettor under sections 107 to 117 (now sections 45 to 57); members of an unlawful assembly under section 149 (now section 190), with Mizaji; conspirators under section 120B (now section 61); the person who helps after the crime, under sections 201, 212 and 411 (now sections 238, 249 and 317), with V.L. Tresa; how each party's liability varies; a conclusion.
Parties to a crime
A crime is often committed by several people playing different parts. English common law sorted them into four classes.
- Principal in the first degree: the person who actually commits the crime.
- Principal in the second degree: one who is present and aids or encourages at the time.
- Accessory before the fact: one who instigates or helps beforehand, but is absent at the time.
- Accessory after the fact: one who, knowing of the crime, helps the offender escape justice.
The Indian Penal Code, 1860 does not use these labels. It reaches each kind of party through its own sections. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the Code from 1 July 2024, keeps the same scheme with new numbers.
Those who commit it together: sections 34 to 38
Section 34 deals with a criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all. Each of them is liable as if he had done it alone. It is now section 3(5) of the Sanhita. It covers the principal in the first degree and the one present who shares the plan.
Sections 35 to 38 fill in the detail (now section 3(6) to (9)). Section 37 makes each liable who intentionally does one of several acts that together make up an offence. Section 38 adds that persons engaged in one act may be guilty of different offences. In its illustration, A kills Z under grave provocation, which is only culpable homicide. B, who was not provoked and hated Z, helps him. B is guilty of murder.
Facts. In Mahbub Shah v. Emperor, (1945) 47 Bom LR 941, decided on 31 January 1945, two men came with guns to rescue a friend in a quarrel over reeds. One shot a man dead, and the appellant wounded another.
Held. The Privy Council set aside the appellant's conviction for murder under section 34. Common intention implies a pre-arranged plan and acting in concert under it. The same or a similar intention is not common intention.
How liability varies. A party is liable for the whole act only if he shared the common intention. Without it, each is liable only for what he himself did.
Those who instigate or help: the abettor
Under section 107 (now section 45), a person abets by instigating, by engaging in a conspiracy followed by an act, or by intentionally aiding. This covers the accessory before the fact. Under section 114 (now section 54), an abettor who is present when the offence is committed is treated as having committed it. That covers the principal in the second degree.
How liability varies. The abettor's punishment depends on what happens. If the offence is committed, he gets its punishment (section 109, now section 49). If it is not, he gets a fraction (sections 115 and 116, now sections 55 and 56). Sometimes a different act or effect follows. He may be liable for it if it was probable or known to be likely (sections 111 to 113, now sections 51 to 53).
Members of an unlawful assembly: section 149
Section 149 (now section 190) deals with an offence committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object. Every member is guilty of it. It also covers an offence the members knew was likely to be committed in prosecution of that object.
Facts. In Mizaji v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1959 SC 572, decided on 18 December 1958, five men came armed with a pistol and lathis to take forcible possession of a disputed field. When the other side objected, one of them shot a man dead.
Held. All five were guilty of murder with the aid of section 149. They knew, from the weapons they carried, that murder was likely in taking the land by force.
How liability varies. A member is liable even if he struck no blow, so long as he shared the common object and the offence fell within it.
Conspirators: section 120B
Under sections 120A and 120B (now section 61), every party to a criminal conspiracy is guilty of the conspiracy itself. For a serious offence he is punished as if he had abetted it.
Those who help afterwards
The accessory after the fact is reached by separate offences.
- Causing disappearance of evidence, or giving false information to screen an offender: section 201, now section 238.
- Harbouring an offender: section 212, now section 249.
- Dishonestly receiving stolen property: section 411, now section 317(2).
Facts. In V.L. Tresa v. State of Kerala, decided on 9 February 2001, a wife was charged with murdering her husband and with giving false information to screen herself. She was acquitted of murder but convicted of the screening offence.
Held. A conviction under section 201 can stand though the main charge fails. The prosecution must prove an offence, the accused's knowledge of it, the false information or removal of evidence, and the intention to screen the offender.
How liability varies. The accessory after the fact is not liable for the main crime. He is punished for his own separate offence, more heavily where the main offence is grave.
Conclusion. The Code does not use the common law labels, but it reaches every party to a crime. Joint actors sharing a common intention are liable for the whole act under section 34, now section 3(5). But Mahbub Shah requires a real pre-arranged plan. Abettors under section 107, now section 45, are punished according to what follows. Members of an unlawful assembly are liable under section 149, now section 190, for what they knew was likely, as in Mizaji. Conspirators are guilty of the agreement itself. Those who help afterwards commit separate offences, which V.L. Tresa shows can stand alone.
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