UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Bombay HC quashes externment of two SDPI functionaries

Q1. Consider the following statements comparing externment with preventive detention in India: 1. Externment removes a person from a specified area for a fixed period, whereas preventive detention confines the person in custody. 2. Unlike preventive detention, an externment order under the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951 may be passed without giving the proposed externee any opportunity of being heard. 3. Unlike an ordinary arrested person, a preventive detainee has no constitutional right to be produced before the nearest magistrate within twenty-four hours. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Externment removes a person from a specified area for a fixed period, whereas preventive detention confines the person in custody.
  2. Unlike preventive detention, an externment order under the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951 may be passed without giving the proposed externee any opportunity of being heard.
  3. Unlike an ordinary arrested person, a preventive detainee has no constitutional right to be produced before the nearest magistrate within twenty-four hours.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q2. The power to extern a person from a specified area in Maharashtra, as invoked in the externment orders set aside by the Bombay High Court in July 2026, is conferred by which one of the following enactments?

  • A. The Maharashtra Police Act, 1951
  • B. The Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers and Drug Offenders Act, 1981
  • C. The National Security Act, 1980
  • D. The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999

Q3. The externment orders against the two SDPI functionaries, quashed by the Bombay High Court, were passed under which one of the following provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, dealing with removal of persons about to commit an offence?

  • A. Section 55, dealing with dangerous gangs and bodies of persons
  • B. Section 56, the provision on removal of persons about to commit offence
  • C. Section 57, dealing with persons convicted of certain specified offences
  • D. Section 57A, the additional externment provision inserted later

Q4. In the context of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, the term 'externment' precisely denotes which one of the following?

  • A. An order prohibiting a person from entering or remaining in a specified area for a fixed period, without any criminal conviction
  • B. An order removing a foreign national from the territory of India after cancellation of visa or residence permit
  • C. An order transferring an undertrial prisoner to a jail located outside the district where the trial is pending
  • D. An order attaching and taking possession of property of a person likely to abscond from the specified area

Q5. Reasonable restrictions on the right to move freely throughout the territory of India and to reside and settle in any part of it may be imposed by the State under which one of the following clauses of Article 19?

  • A. Clause (2), on grounds including public order and security of the State
  • B. Clause (4), in the interests of public order or morality
  • C. Clause (5), in the interests of the general public or protection of Scheduled Tribes
  • D. Clause (6), in the interests of the general public, including professional qualifications

Q6. How many freedoms are presently guaranteed to citizens under Article 19(1) of the Constitution of India?

  • A. Four
  • B. Five
  • C. Six
  • D. Seven

Q7. The externment orders against the two SDPI functionaries, set aside by the Bombay High Court in July 2026, rested on how many FIRs registered in 2024-25?

  • A. One FIR, arising solely out of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill protest
  • B. Two FIRs, both arising out of protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill
  • C. Three FIRs, arising out of separate protests and remarks
  • D. Five FIRs, all registered exclusively for offences involving violence

Q8. The externment orders quashed by the Bombay High Court on 28 July 2026 had been issued by which one of the following authorities?

  • A. The Mumbai Police, barring the two functionaries from Mumbai for one year
  • B. The Home Department of the Government of Maharashtra, acting on a police proposal
  • C. The National Investigation Agency, following its probe into the FIRs
  • D. The Ministry of Home Affairs, exercising powers over unlawful associations

Q9. The Popular Front of India and its fronts were declared an 'unlawful association' by the Central Government under which one of the following provisions?

  • A. Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, subject to confirmation by a Tribunal
  • B. Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, by addition to the schedule of terrorist organisations
  • C. Section 3 of the National Security Act, 1980, on grounds of prejudice to security of the State
  • D. Section 10 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, disqualifying the body from contesting elections

Q10. Detention of a person under a preventive detention law beyond three months requires the opinion of which one of the following bodies?

  • A. An Advisory Board constituted under the preventive detention law concerned
  • B. A Tribunal presided over by a sitting High Court judge, as under the UAPA
  • C. The National Human Rights Commission, on a reference by the detaining authority
  • D. The State Level Screening Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs

Q11. The UMEED Central Portal, a centralised platform for uploading, verification and monitoring of waqf properties, was developed and launched by which one of the following?

  • A. The Ministry of Minority Affairs, which also administers waqf-board modernisation schemes
  • B. The Ministry of Home Affairs, through its Centre-State Division dealing with religious endowments
  • C. The Central Waqf Council, the statutory body advising governments and State Waqf Boards
  • D. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in coordination with State Waqf Boards