The Right of Private Defense in Indian Criminal Justice System

This research paper explores the doctrine of self-defence within the context of the challenges directed at the imminence requirement, from the perspective of national law. This research paper will further attempt to illustrate that the requirement of imminence underlines the political character of the self-defence doctrine wherein private force may only be exercised when there is an absence of institutional protection. This research paper demonstrates how a rights-based account can explain the broad and narrow nature of the right of self-defense. This study will further argue that the imminence rule can't simply be considered as a "proxy" for establishing necessity, instead it is to be proved that the elements of imminence, necessity, and proportionality are inevitably connected to ensure that defensive force is barely resorted to when national authorities are not in a position to prevent an illegal aggression, and that the defensive force is not abused and misused.