Short note on affray

 The offence of affray postulates the commission of a definite assault or a breach of the peace, and mere quarreling or abusing in a street without exchange of blows is not sufficient to attract the application of this section.

Where two brothers were found quarreling and abusing each other on a public road and a large crowd gathered and the traffic was temporarily stopped, but no actual fighting took place, it was held that no affray was committed.

Affray is defined in section 159 as under:

159 IPC Affray-When two or more persons, by fighting in a public place, disturb the public peace, they are said to “commit an affray”.

The necessary ingredients to constitute an affray as defined in section 159 of the IPC, there must be-

(1) A fighting

(2) Between two or more persons,

(3) In a public place, and

(4) Consequent disturbance of the public place.

But, merely because two persons fight on a public street or enter into an altercation of words, that will not amount to an offence of affray.

In Balakrishna Shetty v. State of Mysore, (1966) 1 Mys LJ 528, it was laid down that fighting connotes contest or struggle between two or more persons and if a person is attacked in a public place and if he tries to escape it cannot be said that there is any fight between the two.

The offence of ‘affray’ is punishable under section 160 IPC.