CLAT 2020 | Legal Reasoning

Legal Reasoning | Previous Year Questions

CLAT Legal Reasoning

As the name indicates, CLAT Legal Reasoning section has a distinct element of law. To crack these questions, ideally, a candidate has to keep reading any news and opinion articles from at least one newspaper. A basic idea regarding the Current Affairs of legal issues will drastically improve the reading speed and comprehension. Though deeper understanding of law is not mandatory, keeping oneself abreast of the current happenings will prove to a competitive edge. The passages have been selected carefully to encompass a legal context in them.

As with the CLAT Logical Reasoning section and the CLAT English Language section, adequate attention has been given to ensure the passages are from a range of topics. Needless to say, the questions are pegged exactly at the level of difficulty of CLAT, with an eye on the samples published by the Consortium of NLUs.

Enough said. In for some serious Legal Reasoning? Let’s get cracking!

CLAT 2020 Legal Reasoning: Mob Lynching in Palgar

Tension prevailed in the Jawahar area in Palghar district after three Mumbai residents, travelling in a Ford Ecosport to Silvassa, were allegedly lynched late on Thursday night. The Kasa police said the incident occurred near Gadakchinchale village under their jurisdiction. "Information received by us indicates that the three occupants of the SUV hailed form Kandivali in Mumbai and were going to attend a funeral in Silvassa," Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh, Palghar police said. A large mob of villagers surrounded the car within a matter of minutes and started attacking it with sticks, irons rods and their bare hands, leading to the death of all three occupants. "One of our patrolling vehicles later spotted the severely injured trio lying on the road and stopped to find out the matter. However, our team was also attacked by the mob and the vehicle pelted with stones. Our personnel had to flee and were unable to rescue to the victims," an officer with the Kasa police said. A wireless alert was sent out later apprising all police stations and units of the incident following which reinforcements were sent to the village and a combing operation was undertaken. "Prima facie information indicates that the trio were mistaken for thieves and attacked. The villagers were on edge due to the ongoing lockdown and unavailability of essential supplies. For the past few days, several rumours have been doing the rounds on social media about thieves and dacoits targetting villages on the highway. As a result, villagers have been patrolling the highway and stopping late night travellers on suspicion," the officer said.
Source: Excerpt from The Hindu, written by Alok Deshpande (22/04/2020)

In the light of the above passage which of the following incidents of mob violence would be justified?

  1. A group of people committing violence against people who are selling meat of an animal considered to be sacred under their religious beliefs.
  2. The residents of a boy‘s hostel caught a drug paddler selling drugs in their hostel and killed him by beating.
  3. The villagers injured a woman by pelting stone on her considering her to be witch.
  4. None of the above.

Explanatory Answer

According to the principles of natural justice, the question by itself provides the answer – without a look at the other options. Taking law into own hands and committing violence is not acceptable under any circumstance.

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