UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC asks govt. to consider plea to treat ‘racial slur’ as a hate crime

Q1. In the February 2026 hearing on the plea to treat racial slurs as a distinct category of hate crime, the Supreme Court directed which of the following functionaries to consider the petition and refer it to an appropriate authority?

  • A. The Solicitor General of India
  • B. The Attorney-General for India
  • C. The Chairperson, Law Commission of India
  • D. The Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission

Q2. Under which provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, is murder committed by a group of five or more persons acting in concert on grounds of race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language or personal belief made specifically punishable?

  • A. Section 117(4)
  • B. Section 153A
  • C. Section 103(2)
  • D. Section 196

Q3. Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 treats identity-motivated lynching as a distinct offence only when committed by a group of at least how many persons acting in concert?

  • A. 3
  • B. 5
  • C. 7
  • D. 10

Q4. In the context of the February 2026 Supreme Court hearing on racial slurs, the expression 'hate crime' as urged by the petitioner is most accurately understood as:

  • A. Any speech that causes offence to the religious sentiments of an identifiable community, irrespective of motive
  • B. A criminal act in which the offender's selection of the victim is motivated, wholly or in part, by bias against a protected identity such as race or ethnicity
  • C. Any cognisable offence committed by a group of five or more persons, regardless of the victim's identity
  • D. An offence under preventive-detention law arising from communally provocative assembly