In Brief
In this case, the appellant, a Punjab Home Guard Volunteer, shot and killed a colleague during an altercation over borrowed money. The trial court acquitted him on grounds of private defence; the High Court reversed this and convicted him of murder. The Supreme Court held that while the appellant had the right to defend himself (the deceased had aimed a rifle at him), he exceeded that right by shooting the deceased in the chest—a vital area that could have been avoided. The Court converted the conviction from murder (Section 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part I), and directed the appellant's release as he had already served the maximum sentence prescribed for this lesser offence.
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