MCQ 29 Dec 2023

Daily practice questions for CLAT - (29 December 2023)



There are sometimes when the individual incites another to commit a crime for him, thus absolving him of any actus Reus and thereby any responsibility for the crime. Through the offence of incitement and abetment, the legal system takes a strong stand against any wrongful act of an individual that leads to the commission of a crime. Such inchoate crimes therefore help reduce the number of crimes that are committed in the society. Thus, the main rationale behind inchoate crimes is to discourage individuals from the commission of a crime not only themselves, but also through the incitement inchoate offences are not the normal kinds of offences that one sees in everyday life. They are those crimes which are crimes with a small anomaly in them. In essence, inchoate offences are not the major offences themselves. They are the steps taken or the actions committed in pursuance of action. These steps are punishable themselves and are known broadly as inchoate offences. In such offences, it is not the main aim that is being punished, but is the act or thought in pursuance of the main aim that is punished. It is of the belief that the offences that the individual wishes to commit is of such grievous nature that in case of failure to commit the said crime, it is in the public interest to prosecute the acts done in pursuance of the crime. People prosecuted for the commission of inchoate crimes do not commit direct harm through the actions undertaken, but for the harm that they could have caused if the act had been committed. Inchoate crimes are basically incomplete crimes are acts involving the tendency to commit, or to indirectly participate in a criminal offence. There is no offence of simply “attempt.” Likewise there is no offence of simply “incitement” or “conspiracy.” Rather, attempt, conspiracy and incitement are concepts providing for the construction of offences such as attempted murder, conspiracy to commit theft, incitement to assault, and so on. In light of this it can be suggested that either “inchoate liability” or “inchoate offences” are apt headings under which to group the rules and instructions for the operation of attempt, conspiracy and incitement. Inchoate offences therefore, from the definition can be seen to be not the same as the actual offence. They are of a lesser magnitude than if the intended offence had actually been committed.

Question1:- Farukh makes an attempt to steal certain precious jewels by breaking an open case kept at Anuj’s office premises. However, upon opening the case, Farukh finds that the case contains nothing. Anuj catches Farukh during the act of opening the box. Determine whether Farukh can be held liable.
  • A. Farukh cannot be held liable as he did not steal any jewels.
  • B. Farukh cannot be held liable as he merely opened an empty box.
  • C. Farukh can be held liable as he attempted to steal Anuj’s precious jewels.
  • D. Farukh can be held liable for theft of precious jewels from Anuj’s possession.
Answer is C is correct. Farukh can be held liable as he attempted to steal Anuj’s precious jewels. The act of opening the box kept in Anuj’s possession was done towards the commission of theft of the precious jewels, which covers F’s liability under Section 511, IPC. Therefore, Option C is the correct answer.
Question2:- W, a pickpocket, browsed his local market and found Q to be an easy target for pickpocketing. W made an attempt to pick Q’s pocket and obtain his valuables by thrusting his hand into Q’s pocket. However, W fails in the attempt on account of Q’s pocket being empty. Determine W’s liability under these circumstances.
  • A. W will not be liable for any offence as nothing was taken from Q.
  • B. W will be held liable for the attempt to pick Q’s pocket.
  • C. W will not be liable for the attempt to pick Q’s pocket.
  • D. W will be held liable for the possession of criminal intention.
Answer is B is correct. W will be held liable for the attempt to pick Q’s pocket since the act of thrusting his hand into Q’s pocket was done towards the commission of theft, which makes W liable under Section 511, IPC. Therefore, Option B is the correct answer.
Question3:- Which of the following does not constitute an essential ingredient of an inchoate offence?
  • A. Mens rea for committing an offence
  • B. Preparation towards committing an offence
  • C. Attempt towards committing an offence
  • D. Commission of the actual offence
Answer is D is correct. Upon the perusal of the aforementioned passage, it can be clearly deciphered that the very essence of inchoate offences lies in the fact that they are not complete. This means that after the sine qua non stage of attempt, the actual commission of the offence does not occur. Hence, commission does not constitute an essential ingredient of an inchoate offence. Therefore, Option D is the correct answer.
Question4:- Determine the logical coherence and veracity of the undermentioned statements labelled as Assertion (A) and Reasoning (R) respectively.
Assertion (A): The punishment for inchoate offences is lesser compared to the actual intended offence.
Reasoning (R): Inchoate offences are of a lesser magnitude than they actually intended offence.
  • A. Both A and R is correct and R is the proper reason for A.
  • B. Both A and R is correct but R is not the reason for A.
  • C. Both A and R is incorrect.
  • D. Only A is correct whereas R is incorrect.
Answer is A is correct. The statements A and R are factually correct and they are logically connected to each other by way of R being the reason for A. The punishment for a complete offence is more as compared to the attempt for the offence due to the difference in the magnitude of harm caused in both cases. Therefore, Option A is the correct answer.