If any person refuses admission to any person to any Hospital, Dispensary or Educational Institution on the ground of untouchability then under which Section of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 he shall be punishable ?
- (a)Section - 4
- (b)Section - 5
- (c)Section - 6
- (d)Section - 7
Correct — B, Section 5. Section 5 of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 punishes a person who, on the ground of 'untouchability', refuses admission to any person to a hospital, dispensary, educational institution or hostel maintained for the benefit of the public (or discriminates against such a person after admission). Refusing hospital or school admission on this ground is therefore a Section 5 offence.
- (a)Section - 4 — Section 4 punishes enforcing social disabilities — barring access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, wells, tanks, roads, public transport, professions, etc. It does not cover refusing admission to hospitals or educational institutions, which is separately dealt with in Section 5.
- (c)Section - 6 — Section 6 punishes refusing to sell goods or render services to a person on the ground of untouchability — a commercial refusal, not denial of institutional admission.
- (d)Section - 7 — Section 7 is the residual clause for other offences arising out of untouchability (obstructing the exercise of rights, molestation, boycott, etc.), not the specific act of refusing hospital or educational admission.
The PCR Act, 1955 lists graded, sphere-wise offences. Section 3 covers religious disabilities, Section 4 general social/public disabilities, Section 5 refusal of admission to hospitals and educational institutions, Section 6 refusal to sell goods or render services, and Section 7 a catch-all for other untouchability offences. Each denial of access on the ground of untouchability is slotted into its own section.
The trap is Section 4, because hospitals and schools feel like 'social' amenities. But the Act deliberately carves out institutional admission (hospital, dispensary, educational institution, hostel) under Section 5. Remember the order: 3 religious, 4 social, 5 institutions, 6 goods/services, 7 residual.
- Section 5 punishes refusing admission to a hospital, dispensary, educational institution or hostel on the ground of untouchability.
- Section 3 = religious disabilities; Section 4 = social disabilities; Section 6 = refusing goods/services; Section 7 = other offences.
- The Act enforces Article 17; offences under it are cognizable.
- It was renamed from the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 to the Protection of Civil Rights Act by the 1976 amendment.
Refusing hospital or educational admission on the ground of untouchability is punishable under Section 5.
- Choosing Section 4 (social disabilities) for hospital/school admission — that is Section 5.
- Mixing up the PCR Act's section scheme with the Atrocities Act's sections.
MPPSC repeatedly asks 'which section punishes offence X' across the PCR and Atrocities Acts; the safe strategy is to memorise the section-to-offence map rather than reason it out.
Which one of the following categories of Fundamental Rights incorporates protection against untouchability as a form of discrimination?
- (a) Right against Exploitation
- (b) Right to Freedom
- (c) Right to Constitutional Remedies
- (d) Right to Equality
Answer(d) Right to Equality — Article 17 abolishes untouchability.
Same theme — untouchability sits in the Right to Equality (Article 17); Section 5 of the PCR Act penalises one form of it (denial of hospital/educational admission).
Which Article of the Indian Constitution abolishes untouchability?
- (a) Article 14
- (b) Article 15
- (c) Article 17
- (d) Article 19
Answer(c) Article 17
MPPSC tested the constitutional basis (Article 17) of the untouchability offences that the PCR Act's sections, including Section 5, punish.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, refusing to sell goods or render services on the ground of untouchability is punishable under:
- (a)Section 4
- (b)Section 5
- (c)Section 6
- (d)Section 7
Answer(c) Section 6 — refusal to sell goods or render services.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 was originally enacted under which name?
- (a)The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act
- (b)The Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955
- (c)The Civil Rights Protection Act
- (d)The Anti-Discrimination Act
Answer(b) The Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 — renamed the Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976.