Court caseAIR 1973 SC 473

A dispute over the possession of plots in a village in Uttar Pradesh led to a clash between two groups. The complainant party came armed with lathis and attacked; a lathi blow was aimed at the accused's head. Deo Narain struck Chanderama with a spear in the chest, killing him. The Allahabad High Court held that the accused had exceeded his right of private defence because he had received only a lathi blow and used a spear, and convicted him under s. 304 Part I IPC.

The Supreme Court (Dua J) allowed the appeal and acquitted the accused. Under s. 102 the right of private defence of the body commences as soon as a reasonable apprehension of danger to the body arises from an attempt or threat to commit the offence, not after the injury is inflicted; the law does not require the person attacked to wait for the first blow. A lathi blow on the head may well be fatal, so a person at whose head a lathi is aimed has a reasonable apprehension of death or grievous hurt within s. 100 and may cause death in defence; the fact that he used a spear against a lathi does not by itself show that he exceeded the right.