UPSC Prelims 2025 · GS Paper I

Question 73: History and Culture

Who provided legal defence to the people arrested in the aftermath of Chauri Chaura incident?

aC. R. Das

bMadan Mohan Malaviya and Krishna Kant

cDr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Khwaja Hasan Nizami

dM. A. Jinnah

AnswerThe answer is (b).

After the Chauri Chaura incident of February 1922, in which a mob burned a police station and killed policemen, many villagers were tried and a large number were sentenced to death by the Gorakhpur sessions court. Madan Mohan Malaviya, the Congress leader and lawyer, took up the defence before the Allahabad High Court, and many of the death sentences were set aside or commuted. Gandhi had withdrawn the Non-Cooperation Movement after the incident. Remember: Malaviya defended the Chauri Chaura accused.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) Wrong: C. R. Das is not the lawyer associated with this defence.
(b) Right: Madan Mohan Malaviya led the legal defence of the accused.
(c) Wrong: Kitchlew and Khwaja Hasan Nizami are not associated with this case.
(d) Wrong: Jinnah did not defend the accused.

Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2025, General Studies Paper I, Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.