Criminal Law – Evidence – Extra-Judicial Confession – Conviction based on, when not justified – Appellant was convicted for offences punishable u/s.302 r/w 34 and s.201, IPC based on extra-judicial confession – Held: Case of the prosecution was that the appellant had confessed to PW-1 to PW-9 – However, PW1 to PW6 including the complainant himself whose son was killed did not support prosecution – PW7 to PW9, the only material prosecution witnesses were not consistent about the place at which the alleged confession was made – Even after the alleged extra-judicial confession of committing murder was made by the appellant before them, they did not report to the police – As per the prosecution they accompanied the appellant to the field where dead bodies were found buried, without informing the police – This conduct is unusual and unnatural – There is nothing on record to show that the relationship between the appellant and these three witnesses was such that the appellant had implicit faith in these three witnesses and, therefore, he confided with them – Prosecution's case about extra-judicial confession does not inspire confidence at all – Moreover, there are no other circumstances brought on record which could support or corroborate the prosecution case – Evidence in form of the extrajudicial confession of the appellant is discarded – Conviction of the appellant not sustainable – Impugned judgments set aside – Appellant acquitted – Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 34 & 201. Evidence – Extra-Judicial Confession – Evidentiary value of – Held: Extra judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence – However, a conviction can be sustained on the basis of extra-judicial confession provided that the confession is proved to be voluntary and truthful – It should be free of any inducement – Evidentiary value of such confession also depends on the person to whom it is made – Generally, a person would confide about a crime committed by him only with such a person in whom he has implicit faith – Moreover, the Court has to be satisfied with the reliability of the confession keeping in view the circumstances in which it is made – As a matter of rule, corroboration is not required – However, if an extra-judicial confession is corroborated by other evidence on record, it acquires more credibility.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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