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Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita BNS
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
LLB 3 years · Sem 2
May 2026 - 75/25 Examination
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LLB 3 years Sem 2 Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita BNS May 2026 - 75/25 Question Paper with Solutions
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First published on munotes.in on 17 October 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by the University of Mumbai at the May 2026 - 75/25 examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the May 2026 - 75/25 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the May 2026 - 75/25 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 2½ hours · Total marks 75 · 21 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.
Answer the following in one or two sentence, any 6 of 8 12 Marks
(1)What is mens rea?[2]
Answer
Mens rea means a guilty mind. It is the mental element that must go with a forbidden act before a person is guilty of a crime. It comes from the maxim actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea. The maxim means an act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty.
The forms mens rea takes in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The Sanhita does not use the word mens rea. Each offence names its own mental element instead.
- Intention, as in murder under section 101. The offender aims at the result.
- Knowledge, as in the last clause of section 101. The offender knows that death is likely.
- Dishonestly, defined in section 2(7) as intending wrongful gain or wrongful loss. It is the mental element of theft under section 303.
- Fraudulently, defined in section 2(9) as doing a thing with intent to defraud. It appears in cheating under section 318.
- Voluntarily, defined in section 2(33). It covers effects caused intentionally, or by means the person knew or had reason to believe to be likely to cause them.
- Rashness or negligence, as in causing death by negligence under section 106.
Mens rea is not motive. Motive is the reason for the act. Intention is the aim of the act. A good motive does not excuse a crime. In Basdev v. State of Pepsu, AIR 1956 SC 488, the Supreme Court separated motive, intention and knowledge.
Mens rea is presumed to be required. In Nathulal v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1966 SC 43, the Supreme Court held that mens rea is an essential ingredient of every offence. It is excluded only where a statute says so expressly or by necessary implication. A grain dealer who honestly believed his licence had been granted was acquitted.
Strict liability is the exception. Some laws, such as those against smuggling and food adulteration, punish the act alone.
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