Question:medium

Principle: Use of criminal force intentionally knowing that it would cause or is likely to cause injury or annoyance to the person against whom force is used, is an offence.
Facts: X, a renowned social worker who had launched a movement for the liberation of women, pulls up a Muslim women’s veil in public in good faith without her consent, causing annoyance to her.

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Even if an action is taken with good intentions, it does not justify the use of force without consent. The law takes into account the effects of the act rather than the motive.
Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
  • X is a renowned social worker and he has committed no offence because his motive was good
  • X acted in good faith to liberate her from clutches of tradition and has hence committed no offence
  • X has done the act in public and not in secrecy therefore had not committed any offence
  • X has committed an offence by use of criminal force
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The Correct Option is D

Approach Solution - 1

Step 1: Understanding the Principle:
Using criminal force intentionally, knowing it would cause or is likely to cause injury or annoyance to the person it is used against, is an offence, and this principle does not carry a good-faith exception.

Step 2: Applying the Principle to the Facts:
X pulled up a Muslim woman's veil in public without her consent, which caused her annoyance. This is an intentional use of force on her person that fits the principle directly.

Step 3: Evaluating the Other Options:
X's reputation as a social worker, his stated good intentions, and the fact that the act happened in public do not appear anywhere in the principle as grounds to excuse the act. What matters is that force was used intentionally and caused annoyance without consent.

Step 4: Final Answer:
X has committed an offence by the use of criminal force, since he intentionally caused the woman annoyance without her consent.
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Approach Solution -2

Major premise: using criminal force intentionally, knowing it would cause or is likely to cause injury or annoyance to the person it is used against, is an offence, with no exception written in for good faith, reputation, or publicity. Minor premise: X, a well-known social worker, pulled up a Muslim woman's veil in public, in good faith and without her consent, causing her annoyance. Testing the conclusions:

  1. No offence, due to reputation: This conclusion needs the major premise to exempt well-regarded people, which it does not; the rule is about the act and its effect, not the actor's standing.
  2. No offence, due to good faith: This conclusion needs a good-faith exception written into the major premise, and none exists here, unlike principles that expressly carry one; the rule turns only on intentional force causing annoyance without consent.
  3. No offence, since done in public: This conclusion needs publicity to matter under the major premise, but the rule looks at the effect on the woman, not at who was watching.
  4. Offence by use of criminal force: This follows directly, since the minor premise supplies every element the major premise requires, intentional force, without consent, causing annoyance.

Only the fourth option is the conclusion that the major premise, taken on its own terms, actually supports once matched to the minor premise.

Therefore, the correct answer is X has committed an offence by use of criminal force.

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Passage (extract): The work which Gandhiji had taken up was not only regarding the achievement of political freedom but also the establishment of a new social order based on truth and non-violence, unity and peace, equality and universal brotherhood and maximum freedom for all. A new order cannot be established without radically changing the mind and attitude of men towards property and, at some stage or the other, the 'haves' have to yield place to the 'have-nots'. We have seen, in our time, attempts to achieve a kind of egalitarian society and the picture of it after it was achieved. But this was done, by and large, through the use of physical force. It may even be that, like a gas kept confined within containers under great pressure, or water held back by a big dam, once the barrier breaks, the reaction will one day sweep back with a violence equal in extent and intensity to what was used to establish and maintain the outward egalitarian form. This enforced egalitarianism contains, in its bosom, the seed of its own destruction. If egalitarianism is to endure, it has to be based not on the possession of the maximum material goods by a few or by all but on voluntary, enlightened renunciation of those goods which cannot be shared by others or can be enjoyed only at the expense of others.

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Passage (extract): The work which Gandhiji had taken up was not only regarding the achievement of political freedom but also the establishment of a new social order based on truth and non-violence, unity and peace, equality and universal brotherhood and maximum freedom for all. This unfinished part of his experiment was perhaps even more difficult to achieve than the achievement of political freedom. In the political struggle, the fight was against a foreign power and all one could do was either join it or wish it success and give it his/her moral support. In establishing a social order on this pattern, there was a strong possibility of a conflict arising between diverse groups and classes of our own people.

According to the passage, which was the unfinished part of Gandhi's experiment?
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Passage (extract): In the political struggle, the fight was against a foreign power and all one could do was either join it or wish it success and give it his/her moral support. Experience shows that man values his possessions even more than his life because in the former he sees the means for perpetuation and survival of his descendants even after his body is reduced to ashes. We have seen, in our time, attempts to achieve a kind of egalitarian society and the picture of it after it was achieved. But this was done, by and large, through the use of physical force. This enforced egalitarianism contains, in its bosom, the seed of its own destruction. The root cause of class conflict is possessiveness or the acquisitive instinct.

Which of the following statements is 'not true' in the context of the passage?
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