Syllabus mapping

Paper 4 | Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude | Laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance

Note4Students

This initiative is a part of Target Mains programme for Mains 2017.

You can post your answers in the comment section. But mentor review of answers will not be available. Just like various other CD community initiatives, this will also be a peer-to-peer review exercise.

Model answers are available below in PDF format and can be used for personal evaluation.

Question 1:

You are hearing a case in court. The case is that of rash driving where a 16-year-old boy has hit 3 people on road. Out of them, 1 person who was the only earning member of the family died on the spot. The boy is the son of a reputed IAS officer in the city. At the time of the accident, he had come from a party and was drunk.

The officer is one of your good friends. He asks you not to punish the child as this would spoil his career and it was by mistake. He requests you that this judgement will have a big impact on the career of his son. What are the ethical conflicts in the case? What are the various options before you?

What are the ethical conflicts in the case? What are the various options before you? Discuss them with their merits and demerits. Are moral and ethical values of parents and the upbringing of children by them to be held responsible in such cases?

Question 2:

You are an investigating officer in the State Government Police Department. It’s a rainy late night; you are returning home by driving four wheeler from wine and dine party organised by the colleagues, a bit over drunk with your female friend sitting next to you.
Suddenly, you realized that a scooty got thrashed by your vehicle and the person with scooty got landed in a pit near by the road a 10-12 feet below. Realizing that, you suddenly rushed towards the person (a girl) and found that she was severely injured with difficulties in breathing and senseless. You suddenly took out your mobile to call for ambulance. As you were dialing the number you realized that the girl is breathless and there in no sign of being her alive. You stopped dialing for ambulance.
Realizing that you will be booked for drunk driving which will cost on your reputation and more on the reputation of your female friend sitting next to you, you left the dead body there and moved to your home. You did not inform anyone about the incident.
Next morning the news was on headline of every news papers and the matter was referred to you for investigation by your department.

Consider the following statements:
1. What are the options available to you and why?
2. What course of action should you think be better for ‘you’, for ‘ethical justice’, which will also save you from moral harassment? Justify.