You can kill anyone caught stealing or trespassing on your property.

Section 104 specifically says that for ordinary theft, mischief, or trespass, the right of private defence does NOT extend to causing death — only to causing other harm.

Once this section applies, you can use unlimited force to punish the wrongdoer.

The harm caused must still stay within the limits set by Section 99, meaning it must be necessary and proportionate to stopping the offence, not an act of revenge or excess.

Indian Penal Code, 1860

Section 104

repealed

When such right to causing any harm other than death

If the offence, the committing of which, or the attempting to commit which occasions the exercise of the right of private defence, be theft, mischief, or criminal trespass, not of any of the descriptions enumerated in the last preceding section, that right does not extend to the voluntary causing of death, but does extend, subject to the restrictions mentioned in section 99, to the voluntary causing to the wrong-doer of any harm other than death.§

Why this exists

The Indian Penal Code, drafted by the First Law Commission under Macaulay and enacted in 1860, tries to balance a person's right to protect property against the value of human life. Sections 103 and 104 work as a pair: Section 103 lists serious property offences (like robbery, house-breaking at night, arson, theft with fear of death) where killing the offender can be justified. Section 104 covers the remaining, less severe property offences — ordinary theft, mischief, or trespass — where the law says property alone is not worth taking a life for, so only non-lethal defensive force is allowed.

How courts read it

Indian courts have consistently held that Section 104 draws a firm line: force used to protect property from minor offences must stop short of death. Judgments have emphasized that the accused must show the offence was of the kind covered by ordinary theft, mischief, or trespass (not falling under Section 103's aggravated list) for this lower threshold to apply, and that even the permitted 'harm other than death' must still respect the proportionality and necessity limits in Section 99, such as not exceeding what is needed to repel the danger.

Common misconceptions

Myth: You can kill anyone caught stealing or trespassing on your property.
Fact: Section 104 specifically says that for ordinary theft, mischief, or trespass, the right of private defence does NOT extend to causing death — only to causing other harm.
Myth: Once this section applies, you can use unlimited force to punish the wrongdoer.
Fact: The harm caused must still stay within the limits set by Section 99, meaning it must be necessary and proportionate to stopping the offence, not an act of revenge or excess.