All the punishable offences under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 are

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

This is a grace question — the commission's key accepts A or B (both credited). The subject is the nature of offences under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. Section 15 of the Act declares that every offence punishable under it is cognizable (the police may register and investigate without a prior warrant or court order) and, where the prescribed punishment allows, triable summarily; the Act's offences are also non-compoundable (they cannot be privately settled or withdrawn). So both A — 'Cognizable and Triable Summarily' — and B — 'Cognizable and Non-compoundable' — state true attributes of these offences, and marks were given for either. The common, decisive point is that the offences are cognizable, which is why the two 'Non-Cognizable' options are wrong.

Why the other options are wrong — (c) Wrong on the first count — the offences are cognizable (the police can act on their own), not non-cognizable.  (d) Wrong on both counts — the offences are cognizable (not non-cognizable) and non-compoundable (they cannot be compounded).

Concept: The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (originally the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955, renamed in 1976) enforces Article 17 of the Constitution, which abolishes untouchability. To make enforcement effective, Section 15 makes every offence under the Act cognizable and — where the punishment permits — triable summarily, and non-compoundable, so the police can act on their own initiative and the matter cannot be quietly compromised.

State PCS 2019 Q30 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q30 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer