Confession: Harmony With Right Against Self Incrimination

Sukhdeep Singh, Research Scholar, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab & Prof. (Dr.) Simranjeet Kaur Gill, Principal, School of Law, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab.

ABSTRACT

Confession is the admission of guilt by the accused of an offence by which he is charged. There are certain confessionary statement which are involuntary and taken by custodial torture, which are inadmissible and violative of Article 20 (3) i.e Right against Self-incrimination, guaranteed as fundamental right under Indian Constitution. Confessions are mainly of two types Judicial Confession which is recorded by Judicial Magistrate under section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, which is admitted as evidence but whereas Extra confession is made out of court which is always considered as weak piece of evidence. From the Colonial period to present scenario in India custodial torture is used as tool to extract confession even though it is inadmissible. As per the National Human Rights Commission custodial violence and torture is rampant in India. A survey conducted in 2019 India of 12000 police personnel, in which 3 out of 4 felt violence is necessary and 4 out 5 felt nothing wrong with violence to extract confession. Even section 27 of Indian Evidence Act, which admit discovery of things by statement of accused as relevant and indirectly recognize torture. This Colonial mindset in police personnel can be removed by proper training and knowledge. In India, there is need to implement Mendez's Principles and required strict legislation to stop custodial torture mainly by police personnel to extract confessions.