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.
Approach · directive: “analyse each option”
What it asks · Weigh three options, ignoring the matter, reporting it, or an approach of your own, by their consequences for the wife, the boss, yourself and the office, and recommend the best course.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- (a) Analyse the option of ignoring the matter as a personal affair, with its consequences
- (b) Analyse the option of reporting the case to the appropriate authority, with its consequences
- (c) Set out and analyse an innovative approach of your own, with its consequences, and recommend the best course
Open with · Gratitude to a kind mentor against the duty to protect a woman at risk: privacy at home cannot shelter violence.
Cover
- Stakeholders and dilemmas: the wife's safety first, the boss, me and the office; privacy versus protection, loyalty versus integrity, indirect evidence.
- (a) Ignore: keeps my career safe but lets violence continue; no private matter, as 29.3% of ever-married women faced spousal violence (NFHS-5). Rejected.
- (b) Report: the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 lets anyone inform a Protection Officer; but evidence is indirect, she may not consent, and retaliation may follow.
- (c) Own approach: verify discreetly, speak privately to the boss, reach the wife through a woman colleague with One Stop Centres, 181 and legal aid.
- (c) Care ethics justifies it; a limit triggers escalation to the Protection Officer or police. Begin with (c), move to (b) when safety requires.
- Long-term: gender-sensitisation in training, confidential counselling for employees and visible helpline information.
Close with · Loyalty to a mentor cannot outrank a person's safety; a verified, staged response secures the wife and my integrity better than silence or a hasty complaint.
Add value (verified)
- NFHS-5 (2019-21): 29.3% of ever-married women aged 18-49 have ever experienced spousal violence (urban 24.2%, rural 31.6%; NFHS-4: 31.2%).National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), India Fact Sheet — MoHFW / IIPS (archived copy) ↗“Ever-married women age 18-49 years who have ever experienced spousal violence27 (%) 24.2 31.6 29.3 31.2”
- CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964, Rule 3(1): every government servant shall do nothing which is unbecoming of a government servant.Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, updated to 27 Feb 2015 — DoPT ↗“Every Government servant shall at all times-- (i) maintain absolute integrity; (ii) maintain devotion to duty; and (iii) 44(IV) do nothing which is unbecoming of a Government servant.”
- One Stop Centres integrated with Women Helpline 181 provide integrated support to women affected by violence (PIB, Ministry of Women and Child Development).Steps to reduce gender gap — PIB, Ministry of Women and Child Development ↗“One Stop Centres integrated with Women Helpline (181) have been established across the country to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence”
- NALSA: a victim of domestic violence can apply for free legal aid at the nearest Legal Services Institution.Frequently Asked Questions — National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) ↗“How can Legal Services Institutions assist victims of domestic violence? A victim of domestic violence can file an application for free legal aid in her nearest Legal Services Institution.”
- Care ethics, associated with Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings, asserts the 'voice of care' as an alternative to the justice perspective.Care Ethics — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (University of Tennessee at Martin) ↗“the emergence of care ethics as a distinct moral theory is most often attributed to the works of psychologist Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings in the mid-1980s. Both charged traditional moral approaches with male bias, and asserted the “voice of care” as a legitimate alternative to the “justice perspective” of liberal human rights theory.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2016, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 361words · Minimalist IAS
Gratitude to a kind mentor against the duty to protect a woman at risk: privacy at home cannot shelter violence.
Stakeholders and ethical issues
- Stakeholders: the wife, whose safety comes first; the boss; me, a junior; the office.
- Dilemmas: privacy against protection; loyalty against integrity; acting on second-hand evidence; my own career risk.
(a) Ignoring it as their personal matter
- Merits: my mentorship and career stay safe, and I avoid intruding on private life.
- Demerits: the violence continues and may escalate, and I become a silent bystander. It is no private matter: 29.3% of ever-married women aged 18-49 have faced spousal violence (NFHS-5, 2019-21). Rejected.
(b) Reporting the case to the appropriate authority
- Merits: under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, anyone with reason to believe violence is occurring may inform a Protection Officer; this can bring protection orders and shelter.
- Demerits: my evidence is indirect, she may not want action, and a sudden complaint may invite retaliation against her.
- Verdict: right in substance, premature as a first step.
(c) My own approach
- Verify discreetly
- Speak to the boss
- Reach the wife safely
- Escalate if needed
- Verify and keep confidence: confirm discreetly, without office gossip, before acting.
- Speak to the boss: privately and respectfully; name the behaviour and its legal consequences, and offer help through counselling or anger management.
- Reach the wife: through a trusted woman colleague, tell her about One Stop Centres with Women Helpline 181 and free legal aid; her consent and safety guide each step.
- Set a limit: if violence continues or she asks for help, inform the Protection Officer or police at once.
- Merits and demerits: care ethics attends to the vulnerable person within a relationship; this path gives him a chance to change while shielding her, but needs tact, and her safety overrides patience.
Recommendation: begin with (c), move to (b) the moment safety requires, and never choose (a).
Long-term measures
- Systemic: gender-sensitisation in training, confidential counselling for employees and visible helpline information make silence less likely.
Loyalty to a mentor cannot outrank a person's safety; a verified, staged response secures the wife and my integrity better than silence or a hasty complaint.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 1 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
