Judgment

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1.Challenge in these appeals is to the Judgment of a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court accepting the appeal filed by the respondents who were found guilty of offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’). The High Court held that if on taking overall view of the case right of self defence is made out or looks probable from the evidence on record, that right should not be construed narrowly because the right of self defence is a very valuable right and it has a social purpose.

2.Background facts as projected by prosecution in a nutshell are as follows :

The incident occurred on 12.7.1978 at about 5.30 a.m. The respondents 1 and 2 are brothers and sons of Sheo Balak Misra. On the aforesaid date and time the accused respondents armed with knife and lathi respectively arrived at the ‘Gotha’ of the Mohan Mishra (hereinafter referred to as the ‘deceased’) and accused Hari Shanker started beating the deceased with lathi and also asked his brother Prem Shanker to kill him, whereupon Prem Shanker assaulted the deceased with knife. On hearing the cries of deceased, his brother R.P. Mishra