Pls find below a 'nonsensical' question...in CLAT LLM Question Paper. The answer is wrong..

The answer according to official answer key is (A). This is wrong



Assertion (A): – An accused person cannot be compelled to be witness against himself.
Reason (R): – An accused person cannot be compelled to give his thumb impression.





Ans1. (A): Both A and R are true and R is correct explanation of A
2. (B): Both A and R are true but R is not correct explanation of A
3. (C): A is true but R is false
4. (D): A is false but R is true
V.N.Shukla (edited by Prof. M.P. Singh) on Constitution says:

'To be a witness' is not equivalent to 'furnishing evidence' in its widest significance, that is to say, as including not merely making of oral or written statement but also production of documents or giving materials which may be relevant at trial to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. In the leading case of State of Bombay v. Kathi Kalu Oghad, a Bench of the SC consisting of eleven Judges, disagreeing with the interpretation in its earlier case defined the scope of the protection thus:

"It is well established that clause (3) of Article 20 is directed against self-incrimination by the accused person. Self-incrimination must mean conveying information based upon the personal knowledge of the person giving the information and cannot include merely the mechanical process of producing documents in court which may throw a light on any of the points in the controversy, but which do not contain any statement of the accused based on his personal knowledge. For example, the accused person may be in possession of a document which is in his writing or which contains his signature or his thumb-impression. The production of such a document, with a view to comparison of the writing or the signature or the impression, is not the statement of an accused person which can be said to be of the nature of a personal testimony."

Hence giving thumb impression or impression of foot or palm or fingers or specimen writings or showing parts of the body by way of identification are not included in the expression 'to be a witness'.

Meaning, a person can be compelled to give his thumb impression...

Principle: A man must not make such use of his property as unreasonably and unnecessarily to cause inconvenience to his neighbors.
Fact: Mr. Z is the owner of a plot measuring 50 feet by 80 feet. He constructed a small house at one corner and was using the rest of the land as a cow shed. He had 20 cows and is involved in selling milk to the public. The cow dung and other wastes were openly stored in a small 10 feet by 8 feet tank. This constantly paved the way for bad smell and breeding of mosquitoes. Mrs. Y, his neighbor, constantly complained to X, but in vain.

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Ans1. (A): Y cannot take any other action against Z.2. (B): Z can do something to prevent the foul smell.3. (C): Y can complain to the police4. (D): Y can sue Z for damages based on the inconvenience caused by Z.

Option A according to official answer key - for the above question