The right of private defense – a legal view

RAVI NAIR of the SOUTH ASIA HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTATION CENTRE provides an analysis of the right to self defense relating to person and property under the prevalent criminal jurisprudence, and how the Supreme Court has looked at it over the course of time.

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IT is the duty of the State to protect its citizens and their property from danger. However, there are circumstances wherein the State machinery is not available or is passive.

This has been happening, once too often, since 2014 in India. Lynching cases under the pretext of thwarting the trade in cattle or beef or even for belonging to a minority or a lower caste, are just a small example of how easy it has become for thugs, vigilantes and mobs to take the law into their own hands.

Also Read: The debilitating saga of mob lynching

The Human instinct is to protect one's self, and the law does not expect a person to submit passively but to defend his/her life or the property in peril. The right to self-defense is a natural right of resistance and self-preservation, and has been enacted in the criminal jurisprudence of democratic countries. No legal forum expects citizens to get assaulted without having a chance to defend themselves, especially when they have already suffered grievous injuries.