Court case(2010) 2 SCC 333

There was a land dispute between Darshan Singh and his father Bakhtawar Singh on one side and Gurcharan Singh and his sons on the other, all of the same village. When the complainant party came to the field, a quarrel broke out; according to the accused, Gurcharan Singh's side attacked with a gandasa and other weapons and injured Bakhtawar Singh, whereupon Darshan Singh fired his licensed gun, killing Gurcharan Singh. The trial court acquitted him, holding that he acted in private defence; the High Court reversed and convicted him of murder.

The Supreme Court restored the acquittal. Dalveer Bhandari J reviewed the case law and summarised the law in ten principles: self-preservation is a basic human instinct recognised by the law; the right is available against an offence when a reasonable apprehension arises; a mere reasonable apprehension is enough, the defender need not wait for the attack; the right begins with the apprehension and lasts while it lasts; the defender cannot weigh the force in golden scales; it is a right of defence, not of retribution, and no more harm than necessary may be caused; the burden of proof is on the accused but is discharged on a preponderance of probability, and the plea may succeed on the prosecution evidence even if not specifically raised; and the right is not lost merely because the defender took reasonable steps to defend himself. Here the attackers were armed and had injured his father, and the single shot was within the right.