'Right to life' is the most important one 'so far :as.ianyperson~is~~concerned because all other rights would be dependent upon the~~subsistence~fofrlife. ::The Constitution and the Covenant have, therefore, guaranteed!1ife:inremphatic;termsrand the only limitation is that it could be taken away by therprocedure:established !bylaw. It is not necessary to support this conclusion by any,{authorityrand it ?appears'-tofus as too elementary. What is next to be examined is:~i$:therdsis~rpr&durewhich authorises taking away of life in the facts'of'these-cases. Mr Sitapati has clearly accepted the p~sitiori.thatithe~practicetobtaining~iriAndhra Pradesh is that when an encounter death takes 'place; ranientv is~madelin~the ,police station of the fact and FIR is drawn up showing.the,deceased as;accysedaandclosing the case as having abated on account ofdeath'of the accused!person:\!No investigation is ordinarily undertaken. In many "of these:cases, the:police ahas;claimedthe right :of private defence and since the investigation is~made~veryoften~bytheiO~cerat~the~p~lice station who has himself led the alleged encounter;~he~iitilises.his~.own~knohledges~~to close the matter. '20. This practice of showing the deceased person~as.accused.and:ctosing the case 21. as abated is seriously challenged by Mr Kannibaran,.:as;.being:icontrary to legal procedure. We had enquired from learned Solicitor.GeneraI:as~also from the Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh as to whether this was a.teriable:practice'inlaw and whether this could stand the test of criminal jurisprudence. h-Bothof-.them'found it ldifficult to support this as a legal practice. Even conceding ttiat;the.police'stand iscorrect - that there had been a real encounter - the dead lot cannot be'ahbwn as the accused because in most of these cases they prima facie did not do anything which would justify their being arrayed as accused persons particularly in the process of killing subject, of course, to the acceptance of the plea of resistance to arrest. As we have already pointed out while dealing with the evidence, in none of these encounters did the police rewive any injury, while in avery case one or more persons from the other side died. The scheme of the criminal law prevailing in India is that a person who claims the right of private defence as a cover against.prosecution has to plead and establish the same. Chapter IV of the Indian Penal Code deals with "General Exceptionsaand makes no distinction between an ordinary person and a policeman in this regard excepting in the matter of the plea of performance of duty. In case a situation as contemplated in these Sections arises, police is certainly entitled to take to arms and even kill the attackers without suffering any punishment for the killing. 22. Right of private defence, if raised, has to be established. Criminal law