Vidhara

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

§41When right of private defence of property extends to causing death

The right of private defence of property extends, under the restrictions specified in section 37, to the voluntary causing of death or of any other harm to the wrong-doer, if the offence, the committing of which, or the attempting to commit which, occasions the exercise of the right, be an offence of any of the descriptions hereinafter enumerated, namely:—

(a) robbery;

(b) house-breaking after sunset and before sunrise;

(c) mischief by fire or any explosive substance committed on any building, tent or vessel, which building, tent or vessel is used as a human dwelling, or as a place for the custody of property;

(d) theft, mischief, or house-trespass, under such circumstances as may reasonably cause apprehension that death or grievous hurt will be the consequence, if such right of private defence is not exercised.

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Source & version

Official text: Gazette of India via MHA (official)

Official Gazette text: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023), English PDF as hosted by Ministry of Home Affairs (mha.gov.in, file 250883_english_01042024.pdf; canonical mirror indiacode.nic.in bitstream a202345.pdf). Extracted via pdftotext 26.07 -layout and @nexlex/ingest gazette-pdf parser on 2026-07-14. Automated parse; structural validation + spot verification of sections 1, 63, 103, 302, 358; full clause-level proofread pending.

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