Methanolic extract of leaves of two plants belonging to Euphorbiaceae family, Putranjiva roxburghii and Ricinus communis were screened for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activity and DNA protective ability. P. roxburghii extract bestowed highest phenolic (629 ± 3.21) and flavonoid content (37.76 ± 0.42) than R. communis. In DPPH radical scavenging assay, P. roxburghii extract showed good radical scavenging activity (54.14 ± 0.21) at the highest test concentration (200 μg/ml) with IC50 value of 190 μg/ml whereas R. comminis exhibited poor (16.18 ± 0.39) percent inhibition with IC50 value of 562.8190 μg/ml. P. roxburghii extract also protected the pBR322 plasmid DNA against hydroxyl radicals generated by Fenton’s reagent and retained the native supercoiled form whereas on the other hand R. communis showed very poor results.