3. Whether the charge of murder of Mr. Vijay Satyavadi on the MLA’s is valid?
On 3rd Jan Mr. Satyavadi was spotted in the visitors’ gallery of the assembly by Mr.Goga Bhai and brought to the notice of the Speaker that Mr. Satyavadi made an obscene gesture looking at him and 3 other MLA’s sitting beside him. Later, on the same day Mr.Goga Bhai and the other 3 MLA’s saw Mr. Satyavadi outside the visitor’s gallery in uniform on security duty. Mr.Satyvadi tried to move his right hand towards his service revolver by the sight of the 4 MLA’s.
However, all my clients were completely unarmed and due to the earlier events the same day, which had also been brought to the notice of the speaker Mr.Goga Bhai and the other MLA’s were already under threat because of the gestures made by the defendant earlier that day. Later when they saw Mr. Satyavadi outside the visitors’ gallery they felt threatened by the threatening gesture of Mr.Satyavadi’s, as he moved his hand towards his service revolver .In an act of Private defense my clients caught hold of Mr. Satyavadi and beat him up, since there was no immediate help from any security personal’s would be possible within the given short time frame. Only necessary amount of physical force was used to knock Mr. Satyavadi unconscious, which was an obvious reaction from a sane human and the same would be done by any man in a life threatening situation like this. RIGHT TO PRIVATE DEFENCE (Indian Penal Code 1860)
Section 100
When the right of private defense of the body extends to causing death - The right of private defense of the body extends, under the restrictions mentioned in the last preceding section, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the assailant, if the offence which occasions the exercise of the right be of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:-
First. - Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that death will otherwise be the consequence of such assault;
Secondly. - Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that grievous hurt will otherwise be the consequence of such assault;
Thirdly. - An assault with the intention of committing rape;
Fourthly. - An assault with the intention of gratifying unnatural lust;
Fifthly. - An assault with the intention of kidnapping or abducting;
Sixthly. - An assault with the intention of wrongfully confining a person, under circumstances which may reasonably cause him to apprehend that he will be unable to have recourse to the public authorities for his release. (1) Right to private defense of body to cause death -Section 100 justifies the killing or of causing harm to the assailant under the restrictions mentioned under Section 99,if the offence which occasions the right the exercise of the right to be of any description enumerated in clauses 1 to 6 of Section 100,I.P.C,namely,an assault.
(2) Ingredients-To invoke section 100, I.P.C., four conditions must exist,viz.,
Firstly, that the person exercising the right to private defense must be free from fault in bringing about the encounter;
Secondly, there must be present an impending peril to life or of great bodily harm. Either real or apparent as to create an honest belief of exceeding necessity;
Thirdly, there must be no safe or reasonable mode of retreat;

Firstly, I would state that mens rea is an essential ingredient of murder and here mens rea is absent since there was no such pre-determined intention of Mr.Goga Bhai and the other MLA’s of physically assaulting Mr. Satyavadi, it was only on observation of threat from Mr. Satyavadi that the MLA’s acted in private defense and to stop Mr. Satyavadi from causing any bodily harm to them, physically assaulted with the fact that my clients were unarmed. Further, on 12th Jan, 2014 Mr. Satyavadi died in the hospital. Dr. Dhanwantari Vaidya who conducted the post-mortem on his dead body certified that Mr. Satyavadi died of internal bleeding in the liver. It was observed that he was previously suffering from liver disorder which aggravated his injuries and subsequent infection to his liver.
Secondly, Mr Satyavadi was already suffering from liver disorder therefore the blows on his body were not solely responsible for his liver injuries which caused death, as mentioned by the Doctor who conducted the post-mortem. Hence, the charges of murder by the police on Mr. Goga Bhai and others shall be interpreted as an act of Private defense and the matter should be considered by the court as mentioned above.

On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 1:33 AM, Pallavi Maheshwari <pallavi.maheshwari@symlaw.ac.in> wrote:

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