Question:

Principle : Causing of an effect partly by an act and partly by an omission is an offence.
Facts : A did not provide any food to his daughter D. He also confined D in a room. Consequently, D died.
This question consists of legal principle(s) (hereinafter referred to as ‘principle‘) and facts. Such proposition may or may not be true in the real and legal sense, yet you have to conclusively assume them to be true for the purposes of this section. Principles have to be applied to the given facts to arrive at the most reasonable conclusion. Only one of the alternatives, i.e., (A), (B), (C), or (D) is the most reasonable conclusion. In other words, in answering the following questions, you must not rely on any principle except the principles that are given herein below for every question. Further you must not assume any facts other than those stated in the question. The objective of this section is to test your ability in legal aptitude, study of law, research aptitude and problem solving ability even if the ’most reasonable conclusion‘ arrived at may be absurd or unacceptable for any other reason.

Updated On: Jul 15, 2026
  • A committed the offence of not providing food to D.
  • A committed the offence of confining D.
  • A committed the offence of killing D.
  • A committed no offence.
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The Correct Option is C

Approach Solution - 1

The correct option is (C): A committed the offence of killing D.
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Approach Solution -2

The principle says that causing an effect partly by an act and partly by an omission is itself an offence. A confined his daughter D and also did not feed her, and she died. Let's check each option.

  1. Option A: A committed the offence of not providing food to D: This names only the omission, the failure to feed D, and leaves out the confinement and the fact that D actually died. It understates the true offence, which is the death that both the act and the omission together caused.
  2. Option B: A committed the offence of confining D: This names only the act, confining D, and leaves out the starvation and D's death. Like Option A, it captures only one half of what happened, not the actual offence that resulted.
  3. Option C: A committed the offence of killing D: The principle tells us that an effect caused partly by an act, confining D, and partly by an omission, not feeding her, is an offence. The effect that actually resulted here was D's death, so the offence must be described in terms of that outcome, killing D.
  4. Option D: A committed no offence: This directly contradicts the principle, which expressly treats this kind of combined act and omission conduct as an offence.

Since D's death was caused by A's confinement and his failure to feed her together, the offence is properly described by that outcome, not by either ingredient alone.

Therefore, the correct answer is A committed the offence of killing D.

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Approach Solution -3

Break the principle into its ingredients: there must be an act, an omission, and together they must produce an effect, with the offence properly named after that effect rather than after either ingredient alone. Check each option against this.

  1. A committed the offence of not providing food to D: This names only the omission, withholding food, leaving out both the confinement and the fact that D actually died, so it captures only one ingredient rather than the full effect the principle points to.
  2. A committed the offence of confining D: This names only the act, confining D, leaving out the starvation and the resulting death, the same incomplete picture as the option above, just from the other ingredient.
  3. A committed the offence of killing D: The confinement and the withholding of food combined to produce one effect, D's death, and the principle says the offence should be described by that combined effect, which this option does correctly.
  4. A committed no offence: This contradicts the principle outright, which expressly treats a result caused partly by act and partly by omission as an offence.

Since neither ingredient alone caused D's death, but the two together did, the offence has to be named for that combined outcome rather than for either piece by itself.

Therefore, the correct answer is A committed the offence of killing D.

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