Extrajudicial confessions are not reliable and are inadmissible in evidence unless they are corroborated by other evidence.

Lahiri, J. :- The appellant is an indigent for which he has received "free legal aid" during his trial as well as in the appeal before us. The appellant is a peasant. He has been convicted u/s. 302, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 100 in default to undergo R.I. for one month more.

2. The prosecution story in short runs thus :

3. On 26-1-75 Bipin Bhumiz went out fishing, never to return. On the following morning he was found dead in a field with four punctured injuries. The first information report was lodged on 27-1-75 at 6-30 p.m. The form of the F.I.R. does not show that it was received at any place other than the police station. However, there is a note below the F.I.R. that the ejahar was received at the place of occurrence. The prosecution case is that the accused, for reasons unknown and unexplained, went to P.W. 5 Dhonu Murari in the evening of the date of occurrence and voluntarily made a statement that he had killed "an old man". It is alleged, the accused made another "extra-judicial confession" before the police officer at the police out-post on the 27th morning, where the accused while surrendering stated that he had killed a man with a dao which he had with him. It is alleged by the prosecution that a case was registered on the basis of the General Diary being No. 420 dated 27-1-75 on the strength of the extra-judicial confession made by the accused before the police officer. Interestingly, the prosecution has conveniently omitted to produce the most important record, the General Diary entry, which could have supported the prosecution version about the alleged statement of the accused. The failure of the prosecution to produce "the General Diary entry" has not been explained. It is further alleged that P.Ws. 1 and 2, Om Prakash Agarwalla and Radheshyam Dutta respectively, followed the accused to the police out-post and overheard the alleged extra-judicial confession. The accused was arrested, the dao seized, the dead body recovered and on completion of investigation a charge-sheet was submitted against the accused u/s. 302, I.P.C. He stood his trial before the Court of Session where the prosecution examined as many as 7 witnesses. There is no eyewitness to the occurrence. The learned Sessions Judge found the accused guilty on the basis of the following materials :

(1) The accused made an extra-judicial confession to P.W. 5 Dhonu;

(2) He surrendered to the police with the weapon of the offence, and, confessed before the police officer, and,

(3) Led the police to the place of occurrence in consequence of which the dead body of the victim was recovered. These are the circumstances or the pillars on which the superstructure of the prosecution story is founded.

4. Now let us examine the strength of the pillars. The most robust column is the extra-judicial confession made to P.W. 5. However, we find the following weak features. First, we note from the evidence of P.W. 5 Dhonu that the accused-appellant had no earthly reason to appear before him and to make such a fatal statement. Secondly, we find that P.W. 5 Dhonu Murari, a resident of the same village to which the other witnesses belong, did not utter a word about the vital confession of the accused to any of the prosecution witnesses examined in connection with the case. It follows that he came up with a story at a very belated stage. Thirdly, he stated that the accused came with the dao and told him that he had killed "an old man with the dao." However, we find 4 punctured injuries on different parts of the torso of the deceased and there was not a single incised injury. It clearly depicts that the injuries resulting in death were caused by a pointed weapon and surely not by a dao like weapon. At least a few incised injuries would have been caused had a dao been used as the weapon of assault. Fourthly, we find from the evidence of P.W. 5 that he made the disclosure about the alleged extra-judicial confession two months after