Prelims 2026 · CSAT / Reading Comprehension · Question 40
Which of the following statements is/are correct?<br/>1. If an offence has no minimum prescribed punishment, it cannot be considered heinous as per the JJ Act, 2015.<br/>2. As per the JJ Act, 2021, an offence for which there is a provision for a maximum sentence of seven years or more, but no minimum sentence, is to be considered a serious offence.<br/><br/>Select the answer using the code given below.<br/><br/>**Passage:**<br/>The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, or the JJ Act, 2015 allows for the possibility for trying adolescents above 16 as adults if they are accused of committing a heinous offence. A heinous offence is one with a minimum punishment of seven years. Offences such as culpable homicide and causing death by negligence, which are common in drunken driving cases, are not heinous offences because they do not have a prescribed minimum punishment. The JJ Act, amended in 2021, now categorises an offence that has no minimum sentence, but has a maximum sentence of seven years or more as a serious offence which nonetheless, in the opinion of activists, does not merit the transfer of a case to the adult criminal justice system.<br/>
Answer
Both 1 and 2
Statement 1 is correct because the passage says heinous offences require a minimum punishment of seven years; offences with no minimum punishment are therefore not heinous. Statement 2 is also correct because the passage explicitly says the 2021 amendment classifies offences with no minimum sentence but maximum sentence of seven years or more as serious offences.