Court caseAIR 1963 SC 612

A dispute over the possession of agricultural land in a Punjab village led a party of villagers to come, with implements, to take possession of the land that Jai Dev and Hari Singh were cultivating. The accused, who were armed with guns, fired at the party; two persons were killed and others injured. There was evidence that the first shots were fired when the crowd advanced, but that shots were also fired after the crowd had turned and begun to run away. The accused pleaded the right of private defence of body and property.

Gajendragadkar J explained that the right of private defence is a right of defence, not of retribution; it is available while a reasonable apprehension of danger exists and ends when the danger ends. The person attacked is not expected to weigh the force he uses in golden scales, and the court judges him by the situation as it appeared in the heat of the moment, but he may not use the right as a pretext for revenge. On the facts the accused may have had the right when the crowd advanced, but once the crowd turned and fled the apprehension ceased and the shots fired thereafter were outside the right. The Court held that the right had been exceeded and maintained their liability for the deaths so caused.