KSLU Solved Question Papers
Criminal Law I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Criminal Law I 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 30 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) Answers should be written 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)What is 'mens rea' ? Explain its significance in statutory crimes.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what mens rea is and how the Indian Penal Code builds it into each offence; what a statutory crime is; the presumption that mens rea is required even there (Nathulal, Ravula Hariprasada Rao); when a statute excludes it, giving strict liability (Mayer Hans George, Sarjoo Prasad); the classic English example (R. v. Prince); why strict liability is allowed and the case against it; the position under the Sanhita; a conclusion.
What mens rea is
Mens rea means a guilty mind. The maxim is actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea. It says that an act alone does not make a person guilty unless his mind is guilty too. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 did not state this as a general rule. Instead it wrote the mental element into each offence through words like "intentionally", "knowingly", "dishonestly", "fraudulently" and "voluntarily". The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 does the same.
Statutory crimes
A statutory crime here means an offence created by a special law outside the Code. Food safety, customs, foreign exchange, rationing and taxation laws are examples. Many of them are silent about the mental element. They simply say "whoever sells", "whoever imports" or "whoever contravenes". The question is whether the prosecution must still prove a guilty mind.
The presumption: mens rea is required
The starting point is that mens rea is required, unless the statute clearly excludes it.
Facts. In Nathulal v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1966 SC 43, decided on 22 March 1965, a grain dealer stored wheat without a licence, against an order under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. He had applied for the licence, paid the fee, and believed it would issue.
Held. He was acquitted. Mens rea is an essential ingredient of a criminal offence. A statute may exclude it, but only expressly or by necessary implication, and only where the object of the law would otherwise be defeated. That a law serves social welfare is not enough by itself.
Facts. In Ravula Hariprasada Rao v. The State, AIR 1951 SC 204, decided on 19 March 1951, a licensee of two petrol pumps lived forty miles away. His employees sold petrol without ration coupons.
Held. He was not guilty of that charge. The Court accepted the Privy Council's rule that a person is not guilty without a guilty mind unless the statute rules it out. A master is not, as a rule, criminally responsible for his servant's acts.
When the statute excludes it: strict liability
Some statutes do exclude mens rea. Liability is then strict: doing the forbidden act is enough.
Facts. In State of Maharashtra v. Mayer Hans George, AIR 1965 SC 722, decided on 24 August 1964, a passenger carried undeclared gold through Bombay. He said he did not know of a new rule requiring declaration.
Held. By majority, knowledge of the rule need not be proved. Requiring it would frustrate the law against smuggling.
Facts. In Sarjoo Prasad v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1961 SC 631, decided on 16 December 1960, a shop employee sold adulterated mustard oil to a food inspector. He argued that he did not know the oil was adulterated.
Held. He was guilty. The food adulteration law forbids every person, owner or servant, from selling adulterated food. He was liable without proof that he knew of the adulteration. The Court reduced his sentence, since he was only an employee.
Why they bear. In customs, foreign exchange and food laws, the courts have found that the object of the law demands strict liability. Proving each seller's or carrier's knowledge would make the law useless.
The classic English example
Facts. In R. v. Prince (1875) LR 2 CCR 154, Henry Prince took a girl of fourteen out of her father's possession. She had told him she was eighteen, and he honestly and reasonably believed she was over sixteen. The statute punished taking an unmarried girl under sixteen from her father.
Held. His belief was no defence, and his conviction stood. Brett J. dissented.
Why it bears. It shows a court treating one element of a statutory offence, the girl's age, as carrying strict liability. The Indian courts apply the same idea, but only where the statute's purpose requires it.
Why strict liability is allowed, and the case against it
For. Public welfare offences protect the health and safety of many people. The harm is serious, the penalty is often light, and proof of knowledge is nearly impossible. Strict liability makes traders and carriers take great care.
Against. It may punish a person who is morally blameless. It sits uneasily with the basic principle that crime needs a guilty mind. Courts soften it by imposing light sentences where the accused is not at fault, as in Sarjoo Prasad.
Under the Sanhita
The Sanhita keeps the Code's method. Its offences carry their own mental words. Its definitions in section 2 repeat the Code's. "Dishonestly" (Code section 24) is now section 2(7), and "fraudulently" (section 25) is section 2(9). "Voluntarily" (section 39) is section 2(33). The rules on statutory crimes come from the cases above and still apply to the special laws.
Conclusion. Mens rea is the guilty mind that the Code writes into each offence. In statutory crimes, the courts presume that it is required, as Nathulal and Ravula Hariprasada Rao hold. The presumption is displaced only where the statute expressly or by necessary implication excludes it, because its object would otherwise fail. Mayer Hans George and Sarjoo Prasad found such exclusion in customs and food laws, and R. v. Prince is the English model. Strict liability is a narrow exception, justified for public welfare but tempered by light sentences.
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