In Brief
A Border Security Force constable convicted of murder for shooting a civilian intruder at the border appealed claiming self-defence. The Court held that the appellant was entitled to exercise the right of private defence. He was suddenly confronted by multiple armed intruders who had gheraoed him; the trajectory of bullets and terrain topography supported his account. Using the preponderance of probabilities test, the Court found the plea of self-defence established. The conviction for murder was modified to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Exception 2 to Section 300 IPC. The appellant was released having already served over eleven years imprisonment, deemed sufficient punishment under the circumstances.
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