A worked CLAT current affairs passage

Reading about how CLAT GK passages work only takes you so far. The skill comes from doing a set, checking which questions you could answer from the text and which needed background, and noticing where the minutes went. This guide gives you two original passages to practise on, then walks through each question the way a well-prepared candidate would.

Set a timer before you start. Aim for about six minutes on the first passage and three on the second, which is a realistic pace for this section.

Before you start: the method in brief

1. Read the first few lines and name the topic in your head.
2. Glance at the questions. Mark each one "P" (answerable from the passage) or "B" (needs background).
3. Answer the B questions you know at once. They take seconds.
4. Scan the passage for the P questions, looking for the names, dates and phrases in the question.
5. For any B question you are unsure about, eliminate what you can, then decide whether a guess is worth the 0.25 risk.

For why this order works, see how CLAT current affairs passages work.

Passage 1: the new criminal laws

On 1 July 2024, three new laws came into force and replaced the codes on which India's criminal justice system had rested since the colonial period. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita took the place of the penal code drafted by the first Law Commission in the 1830s. The [1] replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the law of evidence. Parliament had passed all three in December 2023.

The government presented the change as a shift in purpose, from punishment towards justice. Some changes were substantive. Community service was introduced as a form of punishment for certain petty offences. The offence of sedition no longer appears by that name; in its place is a provision punishing acts that endanger the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Organised crime and terrorism, until then dealt with mainly under special laws, were brought into the general penal law.

Other changes concerned procedure. Information about an offence can now be given electronically, and a "zero FIR" can be registered at any police station, whatever the place where the offence was committed, and then transferred to the station with jurisdiction. For offences punishable with seven years' imprisonment or more, a forensic team must visit the scene of the crime. Timelines were set for several stages of investigation and trial, and the law of evidence was updated to give electronic records a fuller place.

Critics raised two concerns. The first was the pace of implementation: police, prosecutors and judges had to be trained in new section numbers and procedures within months. The second was substance: a large part of the old text was carried over, and some argued that a change of names had been presented as a change of system. Supporters answered that the laws removed colonial-era language and that the procedural changes would speed up justice.

Q1. Which law fills [1]?

(a) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (b) Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (c) Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (d) Bharatiya Nyaya Adhiniyam

Q2. The penal code replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was enacted in:

(a) 1837 (b) 1872 (c) 1898 (d) 1860

Q3. According to the passage, which of these was introduced for certain petty offences?

(a) Plea bargaining (b) Probation (c) Community service (d) Fines only

Q4. A person robbed while travelling reports it at a police station in a different district from where the robbery happened. Based on the passage, what can that station do?

(a) Register a zero FIR and transfer it to the station with jurisdiction.
(b) Refuse the complaint and direct the person to the right station.
(c) Investigate and try the case itself.
(d) Register the complaint only if it is filed electronically.

Q5. Which of the following is a concern of critics mentioned in the passage?

(a) The laws increased punishments for all offences.
(b) The laws abolished the offence of terrorism.
(c) Electronic evidence was made inadmissible.
(d) Much of the old text was carried over under new names.

Q6. The first Law Commission, which drafted the original penal code, was chaired by:

(a) Lord Cornwallis (b) Warren Hastings (c) Thomas Babington Macaulay (d) Lord Ripon

Answers and walkthrough

1. (b) The passage names the other two laws, so the blank must be the one replacing the Code of Criminal Procedure: the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Even without background, elimination gets you there. (d) is not a real law.
2. (d) Background. The passage says the code was drafted in the 1830s, which is the trap in (a). It was enacted in 1860. 1872 is the Evidence Act and 1898 the older Criminal Procedure Code.
3. (c) Stated in the second paragraph.
4. (a) An application question, but the passage gives the rule: a zero FIR can be registered anywhere and transferred. (c) goes beyond what the passage says.
5. (d) Stated in the last paragraph. (b) contradicts the passage, which says terrorism was brought into the general law.
6. (c) Background. Macaulay chaired the first Law Commission of 1834.

How the six minutes should go. Marking the questions takes 20 seconds: Q2 and Q6 are background, Q1 is a blank you can solve by elimination, and Q3 to Q5 are passage questions. Q2 and Q6 take 10 seconds each if you know them. Q1 takes 20 seconds. Q3 and Q5 are quick scans. Q4 takes longest, because you must match the facts to the zero FIR rule. A prepared candidate finishes in about four minutes. For more on the laws themselves, see the new criminal codes.

Passage 2: a short set on data protection

In 2017 a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that privacy is a fundamental right, protected as part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article [2]. Six years later, Parliament passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The Act calls the person whose data is processed a "data principal" and the entity that decides why and how the data is processed a "data fiduciary". Processing generally requires the data principal's consent, subject to exceptions. Complaints go to a Data Protection Board of India, which can impose penalties of up to ₹250 crore for some breaches.

Q7. Which number fills [2]?

(a) 14 (b) 19 (c) 21 (d) 32

Q8. Under the Act as described, a company that decides why and how a customer's data is processed is a:

(a) data principal (b) data fiduciary (c) data processor (d) data trustee

Q9. The 2017 judgment described is commonly known by the name of which petitioner?

(a) Puttaswamy (b) Maneka Gandhi (c) Kesavananda Bharati (d) Shreya Singhal

Answers

• Q7: (c) Background, with a clue in the text: "life and personal liberty" is Article 21.
• Q8: (b) Stated in the passage. (c) is a real term in data law but is not the one the passage defines.
• Q9: (a) Background: Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India (2017). Shreya Singhal (2015) struck down Section 66A of the IT Act; Maneka Gandhi (1978) widened Article 21.

Scoring yourself

Count your answers and mark each one P or B.

The score counts at +1 for each right answer and −0.25 for each wrong one. If you answered all nine and got seven right, your score is 7 − (2 × 0.25) = 6.5 out of 9.

Common mistakes on sets like these

• Reading the whole passage slowly before looking at the questions. You lose the chance to answer background questions in seconds.
• Falling for a date that appears in the passage. Q2's trap was the 1830s, which is when the code was drafted, not enacted.
• Going beyond the passage on application questions. Q4 asked what the station can do under the rule given, not what it might do in practice.
• Guessing blind on background questions. With no elimination, leave it.

What to do next

• Redo both sets tomorrow without looking at the answers, and time yourself.
• Write a topic sheet on the three new criminal laws: names, what each replaced, three changes each.
• Do one timed GK passage set every weekend and fill in the scoring table.
• Read the guide on analysing GK in mocks next.