SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 18 of 95

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) now explicitly defines and criminalizes 'organized crime' and 'petty organized crime'. Which of the following is an example of an offense that might fall under 'petty organized crime' under Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita(BNS)?

(a)Terrorist Act
(b)Large-scale Drug Trafficking
(c)Theft committed by a gang
(d)Murder for hire

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Section 112 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita covers an act committed by a member of a group or gang, singly or jointly.
The acts it names: theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorised selling of tickets, unauthorised betting or gambling, selling of public examination question papers, or any other similar criminal act.

A theft committed by a gang fits that definition directly. That is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Terrorist Act — A terrorist act is a separate offence under section 113, aimed at threatening the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of India. It is nowhere near the petty tier.
(b)
Large-scale Drug Trafficking — Trafficking in drugs is listed under section 111, organised crime proper, alongside kidnapping, extortion and contract killing. That is the serious tier, not the petty one.
(d)
Murder for hire — Murder for hire is contract killing, which section 111 lists among the activities that make up organised crime, the serious tier rather than the petty one.

Concept

The BNS, which replaced the Indian Penal Code from 1 July 2024, sets out organised crime in two tiers.

Section 111, organised crime: continuing unlawful activity by or on behalf of an organised crime syndicate, such as kidnapping, robbery, extortion, land grabbing, contract killing, cyber-crime and trafficking in people, drugs or weapons.

Section 112, petty organised crime: offences such as theft and snatching by a member of a group or gang, punishable with one to seven years' imprisonment and a fine.

The Act's official name is Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The stem spells it Samhita and writes organized with a z.
Section 112's explanation stretches theft to include pick-pocketing, shoplifting, card skimming and theft of an ATM.

Key facts

BNS section 111 defines organised crime, section 112 petty organised crime and section 113 a terrorist act.
Petty organised crime covers theft, snatching, cheating, unauthorised ticket selling, unauthorised betting or gambling and selling public examination question papers by a member of a group or gang.
Petty organised crime is punishable with imprisonment of one to seven years and a fine.
The BNS replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860 with effect from 1 July 2024.

Study next

BNS section 113: the terrorist act in the general criminal lawThe Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, the two companion ActsState organised-crime laws such as the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999

Common traps

Picking drug trafficking because it involves a group, when section 111 lists it under organised crime, not the petty tier.
Treating a terrorist act as a kind of organised crime, when section 113 makes it a separate offence.

The BNS is also asked at 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.17, on which branch of law it covers (keyed criminal substantive law).
Its hit-and-run provision, section 106(2), is asked at Tier-II Paper-I, 19 Jan 2026, 11:00, GA Q.24.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Scientific Research — all 220 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.