LexAMJAD KHAN versus THE STATE
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
• • - S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 567 AMJADKHAN v. THE STATE [ SAIYID F AZL Au and VIVIAN BosE JJ.] Indian Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860), ss. 97, 102 and 105- Right of private defence-Reasonable apprehension of death or grievous hurt. A communal riot broke out in a town between some Sindhi refugees and the local Muslims. The trouble started in a locality where most of the shopkeepers were Si~dhis. The goods in the Muslim shops there were scattered and some Muslims lost their lives. Alarm spread to another locality where the shops of appellant and his brother (both Muslims) were situated and the people there, including the appellant, started closing their shops. The family of the appellant's brother had taken shelter in the appellant's portion of the building through a hole in the wall betw_een the two portions of the building in which the two shops were situated. A mob collected there and approached the appellant's locality and looted his brother's shop and began to beat the doors of his shop with lathis. The appellant fired two shots from his gun which caused the death of one Sindhi and injured three other Sindhis. The question for determination was whether the appellant acted in his right of private defence : Held, that the facts of the case afforded a right of private defence ~o the appellant under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code. The circumstances in which he was placed were amply sufficient to give him a right of private defence of the body even to the extent of causing death . as the appellant had no time to have recourse to the authorities and had reasonable grounds for apprehending that either death or grievous hurt would be caused either to himself or to his family. These things could not be weighed in too fine a set of scales or "in golden scales." CRIMINAL APPELLATE JUR1so1cnoN: Criminal Ap- peal No. 50 of 1951. Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated the 26th September, 1950, -of the High Court of Judicature of Nagpur (Hemeon Acting C.J. and Hidayat Ullah J.) in Cri- minal Appeal No. 251 of 1950 arising out of Judgment dated .the 2nd August, 1950, of the Court of Sessions Judge, Jabaipur, in Sessions Trial No. 32 of 1950. 1952 March 20. 195Z Amiar:I Khan v. The State. Bou /. 568 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] S. P. Sinha and M. Y. Sharif, Nuruddin Ahmad and (Shaukat Hussain, with them) for the appellant. Gopal Singh for the respondent. 1952. March 20. The Judgment of the court was delivered by BosE J.-The main question in this case is whe- ther there is a right of private defence. Most of the facts are not in dispute. A ·communal riot broke out at Katni on the 5th of March, 1950, between some Sindhi refugees resident in :the town and the local Muslims. The trouble started :in the locality known as Zanda Bazar or Zanda Chowk. Police Con.stable Bharat Singh, P. W. 17, who made the First Information Report, said that most of the shopkeepers in Zanda Bazar are Sindhis. He stated that when he was told that trouble had 'broken out there he proceeded to the spot and found that the goods in the Muslim shops in that locality were scattered. It is ruro in evidence that some Muslims lost their lives. From this place he went on to Subash Chowk, die locality in which the appellant's shop is situate. It lies to the West of Zanda Bazar. He states that when he got there he found a "crowd" there but not a "mob". He admitted that he had said in the First Information Report that a gun was fired a minute after he had reached the spot and he said that what he had stated in the First Information Report was true. It is not disputed that this shot was fired by . the appellant, as also a second shot, and that that .caused the death of one man (a Sindhi) and injured tlwee others, also Sindhis. The map, Ex. D-4, shows that the shops of the appellant and his brother Za:hid Khan run into each other aed form two sides .of a rectangle, the appellant's ·house facing north and the brother's house facing .east. Each shop opens out an to a .road. . t ... • J - S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 569 It is proved that when the rioting broke out in the · Zanda Chowk the alarm spread to .the appellant's locality and the people there, including the appellant, started closing their shops. The appellant's version is that the mob approached his locality and broke into the portion of the building facing eas
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.