A sentence is provided in indirect speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding direct speech.
The judge said that justice must be served at any cost.

Correct option is B

The correct indirect/ direct speech is (b) “Justice must be served at any cost,” the judge said.
Explanation: The indirect speech contains the modal “must”, which expresses strong obligation and is best preserved as “must” in direct speech to keep the same force. Option (b) exactly restores the judge’s statement without weakening obligation (“should”) or changing structure/meaning.
Rules of conversion used:
· Keep the same modal when meaning is obligation/necessity: must → must
· Restore the quoted sentence in quotation marks with a reporting clause.
· Example: He said that rules must be followed. → “Rules must be followed,” he said.
· Information booster / exceptions:
· Should is weaker than must, so shifting “must” to “should” changes meaning and is usually marked incorrect in SSC-style questions.