Question Paper from: RBI Assistant Mains 2017

Over recent decades, around 800 women in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been killed for practising witchcraft. Fortunately, _____________________ . Faith healers, on occasion, inflict physical injury to exorcise spirits or cure ailments. The supporters of the recent law in Karnataka that aims to prevent “inhuman evil practices and black magic” across religions cite other practices like branding children with heated objects and using spurious surgical methods to change the gender of a foetus. Lacking access to proper health care, it is poor, it is argued, who fall victim to such methods. The new legislation also forbids made-snana, a ritual where devotees from across castes roll over the leftover food of Brahmins in certain temples to cure themselves of skin diseases

Bail in its essence is a fine balance between the right to liberty of the person accused of an offence and the interests of society at large. The Law Commission of India has urged the government to adopt the bail law according to the changing times, _________________, and the arbitrariness shown by the judiciary in exercise of its discretion.

India needs legislation on superstition, though what should go into it requires debate. Every superstition cannot be removed by the force of law. For that, a mental change is necessary. However, ____________________ need to be dealt with by a law that specifically addresses them.

Studies in criminology have established that certainty of punishment curbs the rate of crime and not the type or the quantum of punishment. We already have a reputation of having good laws but bad implementation. In legal parlance, it is known as ‘over-criminalisation’ — more laws but less ‘rule of law’. Therefore, _______________. Enacting special laws for each set of crimes is no solution and makes the problem worse.