UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Muthanga verdict: whose death counts?

Q1. With reference to the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. Forest rights can be recognised under the Act on forest land lying within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
  2. Forest rights recognised in a critical wildlife habitat may be modified or resettled for creating inviolate areas only with the free informed consent of the Gram Sabha to the proposed resettlement and package.
  3. Rights holders may be resettled from a critical wildlife habitat whenever the area is found to be of high conservation value, even where coexistence between rights holders and wildlife is possible.
  • A. 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1 only

Q2. Consider the following statements in the context of the 2003 Adivasi land occupation in the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act provided no legal basis for the claims of the Adivasis who occupied the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in early 2003.
  2. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act excludes forest land within Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks from its scope.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, an area can be finally declared a National Park only after the rights of persons over the land within it have been determined and extinguished.
  2. Under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, Critical Wildlife Habitats are areas within National Parks and Sanctuaries identified, case by case on scientific and objective criteria, as requiring to be kept inviolate.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. Consider the following facts: I. The Governor's power under the Fifth Schedule to prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land applies to Scheduled Areas. II. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 vests Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas with powers to prevent land alienation and restore alienated land. III. State X has no area declared as a Scheduled Area, though a sizeable part of its tribal population has lost land to non-tribals. Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the above facts?

  1. State X cannot enact any law of its own to restore alienated tribal land to Scheduled Tribes.
  2. The Governor of State X cannot use the Fifth Schedule power to restrict land transfers anywhere in that State.
  3. Gram Sabhas in State X cannot draw on PESA powers to recover land alienated from tribal members.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q5. During a police operation to remove protesters from a forest area, one protester dies of police firing. Applying the Supreme Court's 2014 guidelines in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra, who should investigate this death?

  • A. A team from the station whose party carried out the operation, supervised by its own SHO
  • B. A CID team or another station's team, supervised by an officer senior to the operation's head
  • C. The officer who led the operation, since that officer has first-hand knowledge of the incident
  • D. The district police chief through a departmental inquiry, without an FIR being registered

Q6. With reference to suspension of sentence pending appeal under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. An appellate court may suspend the sentence of a convicted person and release the person on bail while the appeal is pending.
  2. By suspending a sentence, the appellate court is taken to have held that the conviction cannot be sustained on the merits.
  3. A person whose sentence is suspended pending appeal continues to stand convicted until the appeal is decided.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2 and 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q7. With reference to the hierarchy of criminal courts in India, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Sessions Courts are the courts in which most criminal cases in India are tried.
  2. Sessions Courts, presided over by a Sessions Judge, hear appeals from Magistrates' Courts.
  3. The criminal jurisdiction of a High Court is confined to hearing appeals and does not extend to deciding criminal cases itself.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 1 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 2 only

Q8. Which one of the following is NOT a category of Protected Area that can be declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972?

  • A. Conservation Reserve
  • B. Community Reserve
  • C. Biosphere Reserve
  • D. Wildlife Sanctuary