UPSC Mains 2016 GS Paper 4 Q12: model answer
You are a young, aspiring and sincere employee in a Government office working as an assistant to the director of your department. Since you have joined recently, you need to learn and progress. Luckily your superior is very kind and ready to train you for your job. He is a very intelligent and well-informed person having knowledge of various departments. In short, you respect your boss and are looking forward to learn a lot from him. Since you have a good tuning with the boss, he started depending on you. One day due to ill health he invited you at his place for finishing some urgent work. You reached his house and before you could ring the bell you heard shouting noises. You waited for a while. After entering the house the boss greeted you and explained the work. But you were constantly disturbed by the crying of a woman. At last, you inquired with the boss but his answer did not satisfy you. Next day, you were compelled to inquire further in the office and found out that his behaviour is very bad at home with his wife. He also beats up his wife. His wife is not well educated and is a simple woman in comparison to her husband. You see that though your boss is a nice person in the office, he is engaged in domestic violence at home. In such a situation, you are left with the following options. Analyse each option with its consequences. (a) Just ignore thinking about it because it is their personal matter. (b) Report the case to the appropriate authority. (c) Your own innovative approach towards the situation.
What the question wants
Analyse options for an employee who discovers that his helpful boss is committing domestic violence: ignore, report, or an innovative approach.
How to structure it
Three options, consequences.
- Ignore
- Report
- Own approach
How to think it through
Domestic violence is not a private matter: PWDVA 2005 (Protection Officer, any person can inform, s.4 informant protection — good faith no liability), BNS cruelty (498A IPC now BNS 85). Conduct rules: public servant's private conduct matters. Option a: complicity. Option b: right but must protect wife's wishes and safety; could cost career. Innovative: speak to wife discreetly, inform about One Stop Centre (Sakhi), 181 women helpline; inform Protection Officer; keep professional relation; possibly speak to boss tactfully. Combination.
Model answer
Stakeholders
- The wife; the boss; their family; me; the office.
Dilemmas
- Gratitude and career vs duty to a victim; privacy vs protection.
Options
- Ignore; report; a careful approach centred on the wife's safety and choice.
Domestic violence happens behind closed doors precisely because people outside treat the door as the end of their responsibility.
(a) Ignore it as a personal matter
- Consequences: my relationship with the boss stays smooth and my learning continues.
- But: the wife keeps suffering, and I become a silent witness. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 treats such violence as a public wrong. Respect for a person's skills does not excuse cruelty at home.
(b) Report to the appropriate authority
- Consequences: the Act allows any person to inform the Protection Officer, and protects an informant acting in good faith. The wife may get protection orders, shelter and support.
- But: reporting without knowing her wishes may expose her to more violence or social pressure; my career may suffer; she may deny it.
(c) My own approach
- Reach the wife safely: through a woman colleague or a family member, to tell her about the 181 women's helpline and the One Stop Centre (Sakhi) where she can get counselling, legal aid and shelter.
- Respect her choice, but not indefinitely: if the violence is serious or repeated, inform the Protection Officer, which the law permits.
- Stay professional with the boss: no confrontation in office; if appropriate, a respectful conversation suggesting counselling or anger management.
- Keep notes of what I observed, in case they are needed later.
- Do not gossip in office; that hurts her more than him, and closes the door she might later use.
This is a mix of (b) and courage tempered with care. My boss may be a good teacher at work; at home, he is breaking the law. Learning from someone does not mean looking away from what he does.
Draw: A circle around the wife: helpline, One Stop Centre, Protection Officer, legal aid.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
domestic violence, PWDVA 2005, Protection Officer, informant protection, good faith, 181 helpline, One Stop Centre Sakhi, victim's consent, counselling, private conduct of public servants, moral courage.
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating option (a) as respectful of privacy, or confronting the boss in public.
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Fresh examples from current affairs
Supreme Court: no prior approval under Section 17A needed to probe a bribe demand
In a judgment of 16 October 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and N.V. Anjaria held that investigating a bribe demand by a public servant does not need prior approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Asking for a bribe, the court said, is not part of discharging official duties.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Sections 7, 7A, 17A and 19 of the PC Act. · Mains GS-II/GS-IV: honest officers versus accountability.
19 Oct 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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