UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC notice to Centre, State over woman’s deportation
Q1. The requirement that a person taken into custody be produced before the nearest Magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest is traceable primarily to which one of the following constitutional provisions?
- A. Article 20(3), read with the corresponding provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
- B. Article 21, read with the corresponding provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
- C. Article 22(1), read with the corresponding provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
- D. Article 22(2), read with the corresponding provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Q2. Which one of the following correctly describes the institutional responsibility for identifying and removing illegally staying foreign nationals from India?
- A. The Ministry of External Affairs, which exclusively performs identification and removal of all illegally staying foreign nationals, to the entire exclusion of State police forces
- B. The Bureau of Immigration, whose powers of detection and removal are wholly non-delegable and can never be exercised by a State Government or Union Territory administration
- C. The Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the nodal ministry and has also delegated powers of identification and deportation to State Governments and Union Territory administrations
- D. The Ministry of Law and Justice, which alone issues every standard operating procedure governing removal of illegally staying foreign nationals from India
Q3. Which one of the following bodies is empowered to declare a person to be a foreigner in India?
- A. The District Magistrate concerned, acting under the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 on a reference made by the police
- B. Tribunals constituted by the Central Government by an Order made under the Foreigners Act, 1946
- C. The Bureau of Immigration, acting through the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer of the area concerned
- D. The State Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens, after disposing of claims and objections
Q4. In proceedings where a question arises whether a person is or is not a foreigner of a particular class or description, the statutory rule of onus operates in which one of the following ways?
- A. It rests on the authority alleging foreign nationality, in accordance with the general law of evidence
- B. It is shared equally between the person concerned and the State, in accordance with the general law of evidence
- C. It rests on the person concerned to prove that he or she is not a foreigner, notwithstanding the general law of evidence
- D. It rests initially on the State and shifts to the person only after a tribunal records a prima facie finding
Q5. Consider the following statements comparing the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 with the framework it replaced:
1. Under the 2025 Act a police officer not below the rank of Head Constable may arrest without warrant, whereas the corresponding power under the earlier framework was available only to an officer not below the rank of sub-inspector.
2. For entry into India without valid travel documents, the 2025 Act raises the maximum fine to five lakh rupees, against fifty thousand rupees under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.
3. Unlike the Foreigners Act, 1946, the 2025 Act places the burden of proving that a person is not a foreigner entirely on the State in all such proceedings.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Under the 2025 Act a police officer not below the rank of Head Constable may arrest without warrant, whereas the corresponding power under the earlier framework was available only to an officer not below the rank of sub-inspector.
- For entry into India without valid travel documents, the 2025 Act raises the maximum fine to five lakh rupees, against fifty thousand rupees under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.
- Unlike the Foreigners Act, 1946, the 2025 Act places the burden of proving that a person is not a foreigner entirely on the State in all such proceedings.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q6. Under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, the expression 'carrier' covers which one of the following?
- A. Only aircraft operators and shipping lines conveying passengers or crew to or from India on scheduled services
- B. Any educational or medical institution that admits a foreigner and reports prescribed particulars to the Registration Officer
- C. Any Registration Officer authorised to record the arrival and departure of foreigners at a notified port of entry
- D. Any person conveying passengers or crew to or from India by air, water or land, through aircraft, ship or any other mode of transport
Q7. Of the statutes repealed by the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which one was the parent enactment under which the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 was made?
- A. The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
- B. The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
- C. The Foreigners Act, 1946
- D. The Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000
Q8. Consider the following enactments:
1. The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
2. The Citizenship Act, 1955
3. The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
4. The Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as having been repealed by the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025?
- The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
- The Citizenship Act, 1955
- The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
- The Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 and 4 only
- C. 1, 3 and 4 only
- D. 1, 2, 3 and 4
Q9. Consider the following statements about the standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants:
1. The SOP was first circulated to States and Union Territories in 2009 and was subsequently modified in 2011 and 2013.
2. The fresh SOP issued in May 2025 extends in terms to Rohingya in addition to illegal Bangladeshi nationals.
3. Under this framework the power to identify and deport illegally staying Bangladeshi nationals vests exclusively in the Central Government, no such power having been delegated to State Governments.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The SOP was first circulated to States and Union Territories in 2009 and was subsequently modified in 2011 and 2013.
- The fresh SOP issued in May 2025 extends in terms to Rohingya in addition to illegal Bangladeshi nationals.
- Under this framework the power to identify and deport illegally staying Bangladeshi nationals vests exclusively in the Central Government, no such power having been delegated to State Governments.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q10. In the petition on which the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and Maharashtra in September 2026, the deported woman was alleged to have been held in custody without being produced before a Magistrate for a period exceeding how many hours?
- A. 24 hours
- B. 48 hours
- C. 72 hours
- D. 100 hours
Q11. In the context of India's border management, the term 'push-back' denotes which one of the following?
- A. Formally handing over a foreign national to the country of origin after that country confirms nationality and agrees to receive the person
- B. Extending the territorial jurisdiction of the border guarding force from the border line further into the hinterland of a State
- C. Summarily sending persons intercepted at the border back across it, without the nationality verification that formal deportation requires
- D. Relocating residents of border villages from the zero line to settlements behind the security fence on security grounds
Q12. During a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the house-to-house distribution and collection of enumeration forms is carried out by which one of the following functionaries?
- A. Electoral Registration Officers designated for each Assembly constituency
- B. Booth Level Officers attached to each polling station area
- C. Booth Level Agents nominated by recognised political parties for each polling station
- D. Special Roll Observers deployed by the Election Commission for the revision