1957 Supreme(SC) 40

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
10th April 1957.
JAGANNADHA DAS, B.P. SINHA AND GAJENDRAGADKAR, JJ.
Sarwan Singh Rattan Singh, Appellant v. State of Punjab Respondent.
Harbans Singh Bhan Singh, Appellant v. State of Punjab, Respondent.
Criminal Appeal No. 22 of 1957.
Criminal Appeal No. 23 of 1957.
Advocates appeared
Mr. Gyan Chand Mathur, Advocate (at State expense), (in No. 22 of 1957) and Mr. R.L. Kohli, Advocate, (in No. 23 of 1957), for Appellants; Messrs. Gopal Singh and T.M. Sen, Advocates, for Respondents (in both the Appeals).

Headnote:Section 164 -Retracted confession-Evidentiary value-Corroboration Extent of - Evidence Act (1872), S. 24.

       Held : In law it is always open to the Court to convict an. accused on his confession itself though he has retracted it at a later stage. Nevertheless usually Courts require some corroboration to the confessional statement before convicting an accused person on such a statement. What amount of corroboration would be necessary in such a case would always be a question of fact to be determined in the light of the circumstances of each case. - Section 164 (3)-Duty of Magistrate in recording statement Punjab High court circulars need to be amended-Time to be allowed before recording of statement.

       Held: (1) The act of recording confessions under S. 164, Criminal Procedure Code is a very solemn act and in discharging his duties under the said section, the Magistrate must take care to see that the requirements of sub-section (3) of S. 164 are fully satisfied. It would of course be necessary in every case to put the questions prescribed by the High court circulars but the questions intended to be put under sub-section (3) of S. 164 should not be allowed to become a matter of a mere mechanical enquiry. No element of casualness should be allowed to creep in and the. Magistrate should be fully satisfied that the confessional statement which the accused wants to make is in fact and in substance voluntary. The whole object of putting questions to an accused person who offers to cease is to obtain an assurance of the fact that the confession is not by any inducement, threat or promise having reference to the charge against the accused person as mentioned in S. 24, Evidence Act.

       (2) Incidentally, the attention of the High. Court of Punjab is invited

       to the fact that the Circulars Issued by the High Court m the matter at procedure to be followed, and questions to be put to the accused, by Magistrates recording confessions under S. 164 maybe revised and suitable amendments and additions made in the said circulars, in the light of similar circulars issued by the High Courts of Uttar Pradesh, Bombay and Madras.

       (3) It would naturally be difficult to lay down any hard and fast rule as to the time which should be allowed to an accused person in any given case before recording his confession under S. 164,. However, speaking generally, it would be reasonable to insist upon giving an accused person at least 24 hours to decide whether or not he should make a confession, Where there may be reason to suspect that the accused has been persuaded or coerced to make a confession, even longer period may have to be given to him before his statement is recorded. - Article 136-Appeal by special leave in criminal case Conviction based on concurrent findings of facts-Interference by Supreme Court.

       Held: In a criminal appeal filed by special leave under Art. 136 it would normally not be open to the appellants to raise questions of facts before the Supreme Court. Where the orders of conviction and sentence passed against the appellants are based on concurrent findings of fact, the Court would be slow to interfere with such findings unless they are satisfied that the said findings are vitiated by errors of law or that the conclusions reached by the Courts below are so patently opposed to well established principles of judicial approach, that they can be characterized as wholly unjustified and even perverse. - Section 3 – Appreciation of evidence - Mere suspicion.

       Held: In a criminal case, mere suspicion however strong, cannot take the place of proof. - Section 5 - Appreciation of evidence-Duty of prosecution. Held: It is no doubt a matter of regret that afoul cold-blooded and cruel murder should go unpunished. There may also be an element of truth in the prosecution story against the accused. Considering as a Whole, the prosecution story may be true; but between may be true and must be true -there is inevitably a long distance to. travel and the whole of this distance must be covered by the prosecution by legal, reliable and unimpeachable evidence before an-accused can be convicted, - Section 24-Retracted confession-Evidentiary value-corroboration-Extent of.

       Held: In law it is always open to the court to convict an accused on his confession itself though he has retracted it at a later stage. Nevertheless usually courts require some corroboration to the confessional statement before convicting an accused person on such a statement. What amount of corroboration would be necessary in such a case would always be a question of fact to be determined in the light of the circumstances of each case.