A, an accused makes a confession before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi during an investigation under Section 164 Cr. P.C. but he does not sign the confessional statement. Is the confession recorded under Section 164, Cr. P.C. valid

Question: A, an accused makes a confession before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi during an investigation under Section 164 Cr. P.C. but he does not sign the confessional statement recorded by the Magistrate. Is the confession recorded under Section 164, Cr. P.C. valid?

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A, an accused makes a confession before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi during an investigation under Section 164 Cr. P.C. but he does not sign the confessional statement recorded by the Magistrate. Is the confession recorded under Section 164, Cr. P.C. valid?]

Answer

According to section 164 of the CrPC, when the Magistrate records the statement and confession of the accused, he shall record it in the manner provided for in this section; and only when so recorded the confession becomes relevant and admissible in evidence. The statement can be recorded only by a Judicial Magistrate. Compliance with the requirements of the section is a sine-qua-non for recording a confession.

Clause (4) of CrPC lays down that “Any such confession shall be recorded in the manner provided in section 281 for recording the examination of an accused person and shall be signed by the person making the confession; and the Magistrate shall make a memorandum at the foot of such record to the following effect:-

“I have explained to (name) that he is not bound to make a confession and that, if he does so, any confession he may make may be used as evidence against him and I believe that this confession was voluntarily made. It was taken in my presence and hearing, and was read over to the person making it and admitted by him to be correct, and it contains a full and true account of the statement made by him.”

Omission to comply with the mandatory provisions, one of such being as incorporated in sub-section (4) of section 164 is likely to render the confessional statement inadmissible. The words “shall be signed by the person making the confession”, are mandatory in nature and the Magistrate recording the confession has no option.

Mere failure to get the signature of the person making the confession may not be very material if the making of such a statement is not disputed by the accused but in cases where the making of the statement itself is in controversy, the omission to get the signature is fatal. No reliance can therefore be placed on the judicial confession of A-4.

If a part of confession is excluded under any provision of law, the entire confessional statement in all its parts, including the admission of minor incriminating facts must be excluded unless proof of it is permitted by some other section, such as section 27 of the Evidence Act. Where power is given to do a certain thing in a certain manner, the thing must be done in that way or not at all. [Dhanajaya Reddy v. State of Karnataka, AIR 2001 SC 1512]

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