Pre-trial Confession: A Right Against Self Incrimination

Registration ID: IJNRD_186333

Published ID: IJNRD2301235

DOI: Click Here to Get

Neelvi Rai , Karthik Sivadas , Masab Ahmed Maaz

Paradigm, incrimination, Selvi, Polygraph , precedent

Presently in India the existing criminal laws are very contradictory to each other. On one hand where Article 20(3) of the Indian Constitution, S. 25 and S. 26 of the Evidence Act talk about inadmissibility of Confession made before the trial there only S.27 and 28 of the Indian Evidence Act talk about relevancy of the confessional statements which themselves per se leads to self-incrimination. Although the general rule is that Pre-trial confessions are not admissible in the court of law but several judicial pronouncements state that they can be used for contradiction and corroboration by the prosecution against the accused. Also there are various exemption to this General Rule such as S. 27 of The Indian Evidence Act provides that , when any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of any offence, in the custody of a police officer, so much of such information , either it amounts to a confession or not, as relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered , may be proved. Therefore, confession made to a police officer by an accused person while he is in the custody of such police officer is not admissible. However, there are two exceptions. Firstly, if the confessional statements are made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate, and secondly if the confessional statement relates to a discovery of any fact, then, so much of such information as relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered. Additionally, although there is provision in the Criminal Procedure Code that the magistrate shall check the authenticity and voluntariness of the confession given by the accused to the police but the measures taken by the magistrate and methods applied by him do not qualify in testing the voluntariness as the torture provided to the accused may not necessarily be physical rather it can also be mental in nature which is almost impossible to check. In Emperor v. Kangal Mall it has been held that statements by an accused to police officers pointing out the place where the offence was committed by others or where he concealed himself thereafter, and the house to which he went for assistance were regard as information leading to discovery or as statement made by him as part of his defence, are admissible in evidence as admissions. But if the confession made to a police officer does not amount directly or indirectly to an admission of any incriminating circumstance, it is admissible. Therefore, in Emperor v Mohamed where the accused was carrying away a box at night and when asked by a police officer about the ownership of the box, he stated that it belonged to him it was held that the statement was admissible against him in a trial of theft regarding the box. In Kanan Singh v. State of UP The accused told the police that he would show them the knife and then took them to the place where the knife and then took them to the place where the knife was hidden it was held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court that the evidence regarding the recovery of knife was admissible. In Swarna Singh and others Vs State of Punjab it has been held, the mere recovery of weapon is not a very material circumstance against the accused particularly when every villager is supposed to possess one, as none of the weapons recovered from the appellant’s bore any blood stains

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Neelvi Rai , Karthik Sivadas , & Masab Ahmed Maaz (January-2023). Pre-trial Confession: A Right Against Self Incrimination. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 8(1), c261-c266. https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2301235.pdf

Volume 8 Issue 1, January-2023

Pages : c261-c266

Paper Reg. ID: IJNRD_186333

Published Paper Id: IJNRD2301235

Downloads: 000121985

Research Area: Other

Country: Dehradun , Uttarakhand , India

Published Paper PDF: https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2301235.pdf

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