Jharkhand Judiciary — Previous-Year Papers

Every Jharkhand Judiciary paper we have, free to read and download. 4 prelims and 4 mains papers — each one also available as a clean, branded PDF.

← Full Jharkhand Judiciary exam guide, pattern & syllabus

Jharkhand Judiciary · Prelims

What the Jharkhand prelims actually tests

One 100-question objective screen (100 marks, 2 hours) — and a pure one: there is no negative marking and the PT score is not counted toward final selection, so it only has to clear the screening cut-off into the Mains. Built on 400 questions across four papers (2014, 2015, the separate 2015 backlog recruitment, and 2018); bars show share of the whole paper and the line tracks each subject across those four points. Every bar is a notified subject — the seven below are the entire syllabus.

Code of Criminal Procedure 16.75%

The largest law head by a whisker — 16 most years, peaking at 19 in the backlog paper. Arrest, bail (incl. anticipatory), maintenance u/s 125, cognizance, charge, summary trial, plea bargaining. Top priority.

Indian Penal Code 16.5%

A near-twin of CrPC — steady 15-16, spiking to 19 in the backlog paper. General exceptions, private defence, property offences, S.34 vs S.149, landmark cases (Virsa Singh, and 2018 leaned on Navtej Johar / Joseph Shine).

Law of Contract 16.25%

Flat at 16, then jumped to 20 in 2018 — the single largest block in any paper here. Offer/acceptance/consideration, void vs voidable, quasi-contracts, bailment/pledge, English cases (Carlill, Harvey v. Facey). Now a top-priority subject.

Code of Civil Procedure 15.75%

Rock-steady at 15-16 every paper. Heavy on Orders & section numbers — execution, pleadings, Order 37 summary suits, Order 33 indigent persons, S.80 suits v. government; 2018 added fact-pattern stems. High-yield recall.

Indian Evidence Act 14.75%

The smallest of the five, on a mild slide — 16 → 16 → 13 → 14. Admissions/confessions, dying declaration, burden of proof, estoppel, expert opinion, S.65B computer output. Still a core block despite the dip.

General English 10%

A fixed 10 questions, every single paper. Spelling, synonyms/antonyms, one-word substitution, tenses, prepositions, idioms. The cheapest, most predictable marks on the paper — never skip.

General Knowledge & Current Affairs 10%

Also a fixed 10 every paper. Static GK plus dated current affairs; 2018 added Jharkhand-specific items (tiger reserves). Lock down the static + Jharkhand-state portion rather than chasing every headline.

The syllabus is the exam — and it's almost perfectly flat. Unlike states where a third of the paper comes from off-syllabus Acts, Jharkhand tests exactly its seven notified heads, one-to-one, in every paper — nothing unlisted appears. And the five law subjects sit within a hair of each other (14.75% to 16.75%): there is no dominant subject to lean on and none safe to skip. The only real movement is Contract climbing to 20 and Evidence dipping to 14 in 2018, so keep all five law subjects roughly level in your prep.

No penalty, a throwaway score — and the state Act isn't here. Wrong answers cost nothing and PT marks never reach the final merit list, so attempt all 100. Note too that Jharkhand's own Rent Control Act (the Building Lease, Rent & Eviction Control Act) is a Mains Paper-III subject, not a prelims one — it is effectively absent from these papers, so don't burn screen-prep time on it. On substance, all four papers (latest 2018) predate the BNS, BNSS and BSA (in force 1 July 2024); use the PYQs for concepts and map each IPC / CrPC / Evidence-Act section onto its new-code equivalent.