LL.B.

(Integrated) Five Years Degree Course IInd Semester

Paper IV
English II

Unit-I- Comprehension and Composition

Topic: Reading Comprehension of General and Legal Texts

Comprehension Passage:

The word comprehension means ‘understanding’. The passage for comprehension examines
the ability to understand the meaning of the text.

General Rules for comprehension:

1. The passage should be read carefully to get the general idea of the text.
2. The passage should be read again carefully, this time more thoroughly, taking a mental
note of the various points discussed.
3. Now questions given below the passage should be read carefully and understood their
meanings.
4. The answers should be written in your own words.
5. The answers should be written to the point and in simple and direct style.
6. Personal comments should not be given on the opinions expressed in the passage
unless they are asked for. The passage should be simply comprehended, one should not
quarrel with the ideas it contains.
7. Complete sentences should be written.
8. The answers having been written must be revised, if there are any grammatical or
spelling mistakes, they should be corrected.

Q.1 Read the following passages and answer the questions given below them.
(a) 1. In any country, the judiciary plays the important role of interpreting and applying the
law and adjudicating upon controversies between one citizen and another and between a
citizen and the state. In a country with a written constitution, courts have the additional
function of safeguarding the supremacy of the constitution by interpreting and applying
its provisions and keeping all authorities within the constitutional framework. An arbiter
is, therefore, required to scrutinize laws to see whether they fall within the allotted
legislative area of the enacting legislature and this function is usually left to the judiciary.
In India, in addition to the above, the judiciary also has the significant function of
enforcing the Fundamental Rights of the people granted to them by the constitution.
India has a unified judicial system with the Supreme Court standing at the apex and the
High Courts below it. The Supreme Court thus enjoys the topmost position in the judicial
hierarchy of the country. It is the Supreme interpreter of the constitution and the guardian
of the people’s Fundamental Rights. It is the ultimate court of appeal in all civil and
criminal matters and the final interpreter of the law of the land, and thus helps in
maintaining a uniformity of law throughout the country.
(i) What is the role of judiciary in any country?
(ii) What is the status of Supreme Court? Describe the function of the Supreme Court.
 (iii) Suggest a suitable title to the passage.

Ans - (i) Judiciary plays an important role in a country. It interprets law and applies it. It
settles the disputes between one citizen and another and between a citizen and the
state. In countries having written constitution, courts safeguard the supremacy of
constitution and regulate powers allotted to legislature. In India courts also
enforce the fundamental rights of people.
Ans- (ii)_ Supreme Court is the highest body of judiciary. It is the supreme interpreter of
the constitution and the guardian of the people’s fundamental rights. It is the
ultimate court of appeal in all civil and criminal matters and the final interpreter
of the law of land and thus helps in retaining uniformity of law through-out the
country.
Ans-(iii) A suitable title to the passage is The functions of Judiciary in India.
2. Speech is a great blessing, but it can also be a great curse, for, while it helps us to
make our intentions and desires known to our fellows, it can also, if we use it
carelessly, make our attitude completely misunderstood. A slip of the tongue, the use
of an unusual word or of an ambiguous word, and so on, may create an enemy where
we had hoped to win a friend. Again, different classes of people use different
vocabularies, and the ordinary speech of an educated man may strike to an uneducated
listener as showing pride; unwittingly we may use a word, which bears a different
meaning to our listener from what it does to men of our own class. Thus speech is not
a gift to use lightly without thought, but one which demands careful handling: only a
fool will express himself alike to all kinds and condition of men. (2013)
(i) How does the speech become a curse?
(ii) What precautions are to be taken when we communicate with others?
(iii) Suggest a suitable title to the passage.

Ans: (i) The speech becomes a curse when we use it carelessly. A slip of tongue, the
use of unusual words or ambiguous words may create misunderstanding in our
relations and make us hostile to the person whom we wanted to make our
friend.
Ans: (ii) We should speak carefully and thoughtfully while speaking to others. We
should not use unusual and ambiguous words in our speech. Our language
should be in accordance with the class of people i.e. we should not use the
same type of words or language with everyone.
Ans: (iii) A Suitable title to the passage is The Importance of Speech.
3. The great advantage of early rising is that it gives us good scope to complete our assigned
work, within the allotted schedule. The early riser completes his works before others have
got out of bed. In the early morning the mind and body is fresh, and there are no other
distractions. The atmosphere is generally calm and peaceful. The early riser can do proper
exercises to keep his body fit. He realizes that there is plenty of time to do all the work
and is not tempted to hurry over any part of it. He finishes his work before the evening
and goes to bed at an early hour. It is simple that this life is better than that of a man who
is a late riser. He deprives himself of early breakfast and morning exercises. Therefore he
is likely to become weak in constitution. He may produce good results but his health fails.
Therefore, to keep our body and mind healthy, we must be an early riser.(2014)
 (i) What is the advantage of early rising?
(ii) What is the benefit of early rising with reference to our body ?
(iii) What is the disadvantage of rising late ?

Ans.:(i) Early rising gives us ample time and good opportunity to carry out our work
within the allotted schedule. An early riser can enjoy calm and peaceful
atmosphere. He need not work hastily as he has sufficient time to accomplish
his work. He can take his breakfast at time. He can finish his work before
evening and then can go to bed at an early hour.
Ans.:(ii) Early rising keeps our mind and body fresh. It gives a man sufficient time and
peaceful atmosphere to do exercises that keep his body fit.
Ans.:(iii) A late riser cannot complete his work in time. He cannot enjoy the calm and
peaceful atmosphere of morning. He has to do his work hastily. He cannot
enjoy early breakfast and deprives himself of morning-exercises. He is likely
to become weak in constitution. In such a condition he cannot produce good
results. Thus rising late is harmful to our health.

4. Kuljeet Singh Alias Ranga v. Union OF India, Air 1981 Sc 1572

Two young children, Geeta Chopra and her brother Sanjay Chopra were given lift in a
car at Delhi from Dhaula Kua. But in fact they had been kidnapped by the two accused
Kuljeet Singh alias Ranga and Jasbir Singh alias Billa, who had hatched a plan that they
would offer a lift in their car to some children, try to export ransom from their parents by
kidnapping them and kill them in the event of any impediment arising in the execution of
their plan. Bhagwandas, who was going on a scooter, rang up the Police control room at
6.44 p.m. that he heard a girl shouting “Bachao….Bachao” in a Fiat car numbering HRK-
8930 and that he saw a scuffle going on between the children and the two accused.
Another public spirited citizen Inderjeet Singh chased the car on his scooter after hearing
the shrieks of the girl and seeing a fight in the car between children and the men. Due to
traffic barriers he could not catch them and reported the matter to Rajendra Nagar Police
Station at 6.45 p.m. Initially the police avoided saying that the crime area doesn’t come
under their jurisdiction. But he persuaded them to do the needful saying that he had come
to report them purely on humanitarian grounds. The accused were caught and charge-
sheeted.The Sessions Court convicted them with death sentence,which was confirmed by
the Delhi High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court.

The court did not have any doubt that the death of Chopra children was caused by the
petitioner Ranga with the help of his companion Billa.Though the accused did not have
any personal motive against these particular children, but the uncommon courage shown
by these brave little children in not surrendering instigated them to cause the children’s
death. Further their anger also increased on knowing that the father of the kidnapped
children was a middle servant their by reducing their chance of ransom. Showing false
sense of security, they took them to a park. The true purpose was to let the dusk fall so
that most dastardly act could be committed under the cover of darkness with the use of
weapons they had brought in their car, they mercilessly killed the two innocent children.

The Apex Court upheld their conviction and did not find reason to reduce their death
sentence to the punishment of life imprisonment. It was observed that the survival of
 orderly society demands the extinction of the life of persons like Ranga and Billa who are
a menace to the society. They are professional murders and deserve no sympathy. Their
cases can’t be separated and both were together acting with a common malice. They were
hand in globe with each other. Therefore, awarding death sentence is to save the society
from such heinous criminals.

Questions
i. Who was the person to ring up the Police Control Room and what he told to the
police?
ii. Who chased the car of culprits and where did he report to police and at what time?
iii. Why did the culprits kill the children though they did not have any personal enmity
with them?
iv. What did the Apex Court observe in convicting the culprits ?
Answers
i. Bhagwan Das going on a scooter rang up to the Police Control Room at 6.44 p.m. and
told that he heard a girl crying ‘Bachao….Bachao’ in a Fiat car number HRK-8930 and there
was a scuffle going between the children and the accused.
ii.A public spirited citizen Inderjeet Singh chased the car of culprits seeing the fight
between the children and the accused. But when he failed due to traffic barriers, he reported
the matter to Rajendra Nagar Police Station at 6.45 p.m.
iii.The culprits killed the children despite having no personal enmity with them ,the
reason being that these brave little children showed immense courage in not surrendering to
them. Secondly, their anger also increased when they came to know that their father was a
middle class employee and could not possibly give a large amount of ransom to them.
iv. The Apex Court upheld their conviction and did not find any reason to reduce their
death sentence. It observed that the survival of an orderly society demands the extinction of
the accused persons like Ranga and Billa. They deserved no sympathy. They both were acting
together with a common malice. Therefore awarding death sentence to them was essential to
save the society from such heinous criminals.
5.
This was a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India by one Nand Lal
Bajaj for the issuance of a writ of Habeas Corpus for the release of his son, Inderjeet alias
Billa,who had been detained by an order of detention passed by the District Magistrate,
Ropar on 1.6.1981 under section 3 of the Prevention of Black marketing and Maintenance of
Supplies of Essential CommoditiesAct,1980 on being satisfied that his detention was
necessary with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the
maintenance of supplies of commodities essential to the life of the community. The validity
of the detention order was challenged on various grounds. The main ground was that the
procedure adopted by the Advisory Board in allowing legal assistance to the State and
denying such assistance to the detenu was both arbitrary and unreasonable and thus violative
of Article 21 read with Article 14 of our Constitution .It is clear from Section 11(4) of the
above Act that the detenu has no right to legal aid in the proceedings before the Advisory
Board. But it does not preclude the Board to allow such assistance to the detenu, when it
allowed the state to be represented by an array of lawyers. Further the Advisory Board did
not forward the record of the proceedings to the State Government. The latter confirmed the
detention order under Section 12 without due application of mind in the absence of record.
This was serious infirmity in the case and its procedure cannot be in consonance with
proceedings established by law. Hence the arbitrariness of the procedure adopted by the
Advisory Board vitiated the order of detention and the continued detention of the detenu was
held illegal.(2017,24)
Questions
i. What is meant by Habeas Corpus?
ii. What do you mean by arbitrariness?
iii. Whether it was essential to provide legal assistance to the detenu under the Prevention of
Black marketing and Maintenance of supplies of Essential Commodities Act,1980?
iv. How the procedure adopted by the Advisory Board was arbitrary and unreasonable?
Answers
i. Habeas corpus is a writ issued to a person to produce a prisoner in person before the
court and to state the reasons for such detention.
ii. Arbitrariness means a procedure not established by law or it can be termed a procedure at
will or pleasure.
iii. No, it was not the right of detenu to get any legal aid under Section11(4) of the
Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities
Act,1980.But the Supreme Court held in Nand Lal Bajaj’s case that when Advisory Board
allowed legal assistance to the State, the detenu’s request for such assistance must also be
accepted.
iv. The procedure adopted by Advisory Board was arbitrary and unreasonable when it
rejected the request of detenue for legal assistance and allowed such assistance of various
lawyers to the State Government. Secondly not sending the record of proceedings to the
State Government is another infirmity which shows the Board’s arbitrariness.

b) Read the following passages and answer the questions given below them.
1. The pollution of the physical environment has contaminated our minds also. The
simplicity and innocence of the days of yore are not to be seen. Rapid development in
science and technology and tremendous increase in the production of wealth have
made us materialistic. Materialism has rather overpowered us and we are engrossed in
the mad race of earning and spending. We are thus wasting our powers and little we
see in Nature that is ours. Materialism seems to be sounding the final death knell of
humanism and spiritualism, which indeed made our life worth living. We are steadily
losing faith in higher ideals and values and are coming to regard the accumulation of
wealth as our be all and end all.
(i) What has contaminated our minds?
(i) What is sounding as final death knell of humanism?
(ii) Suggest a suitable title to the passage.
2. The best part of every man’s education is that which he gives to himself. The
education received at school or college is but a beginning, and is valuable chiefly
because it trains the mind and makes it accustomed to continuous application and
study. That which is put into us by others is always far less than that which we acquire
by our own efforts. Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession – a property
entirely our own. Our own active effort is the essential thing and no facilities, no
teachers, no amount of lesson learnt by rote will enable us to do without it.
(i) Why is education valuable?
(ii) When does knowledge become our property?
(iii) Give a suitable heading to the passage.

3. It is much better to give hope and courage and strength than money. The best help is
not to bear the troubles of others for them, but to inspire them with courage and
energy to bear their burdens for themselves and meet the difficulties of life bravely.
To help others is no easy matter but requires a clear head, a wise judgment, as well as
a warm heart. We must be careful not to undermine independence in our anxiety to
 relieve distress. It is important, therefore, so far as possible not so much to give direct
aid, but to help other to help themselves. The world is so complex that we must
inevitably all owe much to our neighbors but as far as possible, everyman should
stand on his own feet.
(i) What is the best way to help others?
(ii) How is the world so complex?
(iii)Suggest a suitable title to the passage?
4. The constitution of India allows the state to move special provision for the
advancement of socially and educationally backward classes. Under this provision, seats
are reserved for the students belonging to the backward classes. Article 335 of the
constitution states that the claims of the members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribes shall be taken into consideration. Job reservation is preserved in more systematic
manner by the letter of article 335 or more effective Article 46 which directs the state to
promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections
of the society. The specific quotas for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for
appointment as well as promotion is a pursuit of preserving equality in academic
institutions.
A government committed to democracy must evolve society relevant
employment policy. Today the job reservation is supported by different political
parties. We cannot expect the centre of higher education to remain insulated from the
influence of political parties. The Indian universities have provided the background
that makes easy for talented students to overcome disadvantages of their social
background. (2015)
i. What do you understand by the term “Job Reservation” ?
ii. Describe the main purpose of Job Reservation Policy.
iii. How is the government committed in enforcing this policy?
iv. Choose the correct answer
Job Reservation is also supported by
a) Different organizations
b) Different political parties
c) Different tribal organizations
5. I cannot understand why, after a judge, has heard both sides, has appreciated all
aspects of the matter has cleared his doubts by putting the right questions to counsel,
he has still to think over the matter before he can decide the case one way or the other
It is much better to get the matter off your chest immediately. Your mind is full of the
case, of the arguments you have heard, of all the facts that have been recited.
Everything is fresh. Reservation of judgment very often leads to judges forgetting
some of the facts, and also the arguments advanced before them. How often have we
been told that a point was argued in the High Court but has not been mentioned in the
judgment. A further advantage is that as the judgment is being delivered in open
court, any mistake or misstatement that a judge might make while delivering the
judgment, can be immediately corrected by counsel in court.
I should also like to say a word about the patience or the indulgence that may
be called for when a junior lawyer is arguing a case. Senior lawyers do not need
protection from the court, they can look after themselves; a junior arguing his first
case, or one of his early cases, needs all the sympathy and understanding that a judge
can show him. He may not be able to put his point properly. The judge should
overlook such deficiencies and actively help the man to formulate his points more
accurately. If he has succeeded in arguing his case well, the judge should go out of his
way to pay him a compliment in the judgment. Judges do not realize what a great
matter of pride it can be to a junior lawyer to be complimented in a judgment. One can
imagine his elation and his optimism about his future at the Bar. I have seen with
regret judges accepting a proposition from a senior while brushing aside the same
proposition when advanced by a junior. Looking back, one great satisfaction which I
have about my life on the Bench is that I have rarely lost an opportunity of extending a
helping hand to so many junior lawyers, many of whom have made good and some
even adorn the Bench.
M.C. Chagla
i. Why should a judge not reserve his judgment?
ii. What must a judge have done before he can decide the case before him?
iii.Write a short paragraph on treatment by a judge or a junior counsel.
iv.Explain in your words the advantages and disadvantages of reservation of
judgments.
v. How did Shri Chagla help the junior lawyers when he was on the Bench ?