Free Criminal Law MCQs with Answers

• A. Mens rea
• B. Actus reus
• C. Criminal motive
• D. Legal causation

Explanation: Actus reus means the external element of an offence, such as a prohibited act, omission, or result.

• A. The prohibited physical act
• B. The required guilty mental state
• C. The injury suffered by the victim
• D. The procedure for bringing a charge

Explanation: Mens rea is the mental element required for a particular offence, such as intention, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence.

• A. Preparation always completes the offence
• B. Attempt requires an act beyond mere preparation
• C. Preparation requires proof of criminal intention
• D. Attempt is punishable only after the crime succeeds

Explanation: An attempt begins when a person performs an act sufficiently close to committing the offence, rather than merely arranging or planning it.

• A. Only personally committing the principal offence
• B. Instigating, conspiring, or intentionally aiding the offence
• C. Merely knowing that an offence may occur
• D. Reporting the offence after it has occurred

Explanation: Section 107 of the Pakistan Penal Code recognises abetment by instigation, conspiracy accompanied by an act or illegal omission, or…

• A. Each participant is liable for an act done in furtherance of the common intention
• B. Only the person who causes the injury is liable for the offence
• C. A common intention is presumed whenever several people are present
• D. The section applies only when the participants are relatives

Explanation: Section 34 imposes joint liability when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of their common intention.

• A. A mistake of law always excuses criminal conduct
• B. A good-faith mistake of fact may provide a legal defence
• C. A mistake of fact is relevant only to civil liability
• D. The defence applies even when the mistake is made without due care

Explanation: The Pakistan Penal Code recognises certain good-faith mistakes of fact as general exceptions when the statutory conditions are met.

• A. The identity of the investigating officer
• B. The nature of the act or that it is wrong or contrary to law
• C. The likely sentence imposed by the court
• D. The name of the person who made the complaint

Explanation: Section 84 concerns unsoundness of mind that makes the accused incapable of knowing the nature of the act or that it is wrong or contrary…

• A. It permits unlimited harm against any suspected offender
• B. It permits no more harm than necessary for the defence
• C. It can be used only after the police arrive
• D. It applies only to protection of property, not the person

Explanation: The right of private defence is subject to statutory limits, including the rule that no more harm than necessary should be caused.

• A. Substantive law defines offences, while procedural law governs their enforcement
• B. Substantive law concerns courts, while procedural law creates offences
• C. Substantive law deals only with evidence, while procedure fixes punishments
• D. Substantive law applies to civil cases, while procedure applies to criminal cases

Explanation: Substantive criminal law defines offences, elements of liability, defences, and punishments.

• A. Seven years
• B. Ten years
• C. Twelve years
• D. Fourteen years

Explanation: Section 82 provides that nothing is an offence when done by a child under ten years of age.

• A. A normal reaction by the victim
• B. An independent intervening act that is not reasonably foreseeable
• C. The accused's failure to confess
• D. A delay between the act and the result

Explanation: Criminal causation generally requires the accused's conduct to remain an effective cause of the result.

• A. An agreement to commit an illegal act or a legal act by illegal means
• B. The actual completion of the planned offence
• C. The presence of at least five persons at the meeting
• D. The use of force against the intended victim

Explanation: Criminal conspiracy is based on an agreement to do an illegal act or to do a legal act through illegal means.

• A. The same punishment as for the completed offence in every case
• B. No punishment unless the intended offence is completed
• C. Up to one-half of the longest imprisonment term, or the prescribed fine, or both
• D. Only a warning issued by the trial court

Explanation: Section 511 provides a general rule for attempts where the Pakistan Penal Code has no separate attempt provision.

• A. Committed during a private dispute unrelated to the assembly
• B. Committed in prosecution of the assembly's common object or was known likely to occur
• C. Committed only after every member personally approves it
• D. Committed only by the leader of the assembly

Explanation: Section 149 creates constructive liability when an offence is committed in prosecution of the common object of the unlawful assembly, or…

• A. Results from ordinary drinking by the accused
• B. Is caused without the person's knowledge or against the person's will and destroys awareness of the act's nature
• C. Is claimed by the accused after conviction
• D. Makes the accused regret the offence afterward

Explanation: Section 85 recognizes the effect of intoxication when it is caused without the person's knowledge or against the person's will and leaves…

• A. Causing a lesser harm in good faith to avoid a greater imminent harm, without criminal intent
• B. Taking revenge after the danger has completely ended
• C. Using force solely to obtain a personal financial benefit
• D. Breaking a rule because the accused does not know it exists

Explanation: Section 81 may protect an act done in good faith and without criminal intent to prevent or avoid harm to persons or property.

• A. Immovable and transferred through a registered deed
• B. Movable and dishonestly moved from another person's possession without consent
• C. Abandoned and taken openly in the owner's presence
• D. Owned by the accused but temporarily kept by another person

Explanation: Theft concerns dishonest moving of movable property out of another person's possession without consent.

• A. The property has a value above a fixed monetary amount
• B. The offender uses or threatens immediate violence, death, or wrongful restraint in connection with the taking
• C. The owner is absent from the place of taking
• D. The offender acts with a financial motive

Explanation: Robbery is an aggravated form of theft or extortion involving violence, threatened violence, death, or wrongful restraint in the…

• A. Imprisonment is always solitary confinement
• B. Imprisonment may be rigorous or simple, as provided by law
• C. Imprisonment is available only for offences against property
• D. Imprisonment and fine cannot be imposed in the same case

Explanation: Section 53 of the Pakistan Penal Code recognizes imprisonment for life and imprisonment, with imprisonment classified as rigorous or…

• A. Every culpable homicide is murder without exception
• B. Murder is a form of culpable homicide, but some culpable homicides do not amount to murder
• C. Murder concerns property while culpable homicide concerns persons
• D. Culpable homicide applies only when there is no intention to cause death

Explanation: Murder is the more serious form of culpable homicide when the requirements of Section 300 are satisfied.