Supreme Court on private defence

The Supreme Court in its judgment delivered on 15.01.2010 in Darshan Singh v. State of Punjab (2010 AIR SCW 832) elaborates the scope and foundation of the right to private defence. Justice Dalveer Bhandari in his decision has discussed the march of law which led to the evolution of principle of right to private defence and the said judgment can be said to be a comprehensive ready referencer on this principle. The law takes the baton ahead for you and says that “The law does not require a law abiding citizen to behave like a coward when confronted with an imminent unlawful aggression.... there is nothing more degrading to the human spirit than to run away in face of danger.” The key points emerging out of this decision in respect of right to private defence are:
• Self preservation is the basic human instinct recognized in criminal jurisprudence
• It is available only in necessity of averting a sudden impending danger
• A mere reasonable apprehension is enough to claim this right
• It is unrealistic to expect a person under assault to modulate his defence step by step with any arithmetical exactitude
• Accused need not take any specific plea of self defence; however, it can be assumed from the material on record