Ethics / Polity · 25 Jul 2026

D.K. Basu guidelines custodial death

Consider the following Assertion (A) and Reason (R) regarding the Supreme Court's order in the Zahiruddin Shaikh custodial death case: Assertion (A): The Supreme Court ordered registration of an FIR and formation of an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT), instead of accepting the state's own post-mortem and magisterial inquiry as sufficient. Reason (R): The Court found that the accused police department cannot be relied upon to control the pace and framing of an inquiry into an allegation against its own personnel. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above Assertion (A) and Reason (R)?

ABoth A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
BBoth A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
CA is true but R is false
DA is false but R is true

Tests the ability to evaluate whether a given reason genuinely explains a judicial action, rather than merely being a true but unconnected fact.

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This question is based on: SC orders FIR, SIT investigation into 'custodial death' of Ahmedabad man
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About this question

Why in news

The Supreme Court ordered an FIR and an independent SIT probe into the death of Zahiruddin Shaikh in Gujarat police custody, despite the state citing a clean post-mortem report and a pending viscera report.

Why for UPSC

Assertion-Reasoning format tests whether an aspirant grasps the causal logic behind a judicial order - here, why institutional independence, not merely dissatisfaction with evidence, drove the Court's decision.

Prelims summary

The Supreme Court ordered an independent SIT into Zahiruddin Shaikh's custodial death because the accused police department could not be trusted to control the pace and framing of its own investigation.

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