R v Dudley and Stephens: The Right to Self-Defence at Sea

Ye kya pehle, this 1884 English case still relevant hai in Indian law schools. Sir Thomas Dudley and Edwin Stephens were shipwrecked, only 6 men were left alive, including their own 17-year-old cabin boy. To survive, they killed and ate the boy. Arrested and tried, they argued self-defence was justified to save their lives. Convicted of murder, they were sentenced to death.

But what if it was a case of 'necessary evil'? Should the court have considered the accused's intention to survive and their circumstances or only the act itself? Community ka kya hai? Kya unki sentence sachmuch jhut hai?