The prosecution must establish the charge beyond reasonable doubt, and a valid confession must be made voluntarily and contain the truth.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 25/05/2017 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Golaghat in Sessions Case No. 1/2017. By the said judgment, learned Addl. Sessions Judge convicted the appellant u/s 51 (1) of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and sentenced him to imprisonment for seven years and to pay fine of Rs. 25,000/-, in default, to further imprisonment for one year.

2. The prosecution case as revealed during trial is that on 02/11/2013, the forest officials heard a sound of firing and was trying to locate the place where it took place. Thereafter, the Forest Range Office got an information that three hunters were moving around the forest and there was an encounter. However, those miscreants made good their escape leaving a 303 rifle, which was seized by police. After 2/3 days of the incident, one Naga person was apprehended by police and was brought to the forest office, where he disclosed that he along with two other persons, namely, Sukhdev Kutum and Jugendra Saro killed one female rhino. On the basis of the disclosure by the Naga person, the forest personnel made a search to trace out the carcass, which was ultimately recovered and sent for post mortem examination. On the basis of the information given by said Naga person, namely, Muwangpu Jamir, an attempt was made to apprehend the co-accused Sukhdev Kutum and Jugendra Saro. After getting the information from said Naga person, the forest officials made endeavour to apprehend the co-accused Sukhdev Kutum and Jugendra Saro, but could not succeed and ultimately on 09/08/2016 the ACF, Romen Das along with Forest Battalion apprehended the appellant Sukhdev Kutum from Gugamukh and he was arrested and brought to the Forest Range Office. Deputy Ranger, Eastern Range, Agoratoli Kaziranga National Park, recorded the statement of the accused/appellant Sukhdev Kutum, wherein he confessed to have killed the rhino along with Muwangpu Jamir and Jugendra Saro. The accused/appellant Sukhdev Kutum was forwarded to the court and eventually an offence report was submitted against him showing the other two persons as absconders. On the basis of the said offence report, learned Addl. Sessions Judge, being Spl. Court, took cognizance, and eventually framed charge u/s 51 (1) of the Wild Life Protection Act against the accused, to which he pleaded guilty.

3. In order to substantiate the charge, two witnesses were examined by the prosecution and on appreciation of evidence, learned trial court convicted the accused/appellant /s 51 (1) of the Wild Life Protection Act and awarded sentence, as indicated above.

4. Feeling aggrieved, the accused/appellant preferred the instant appeal.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted, that there was no evidence, except the confessional statement (Ex-1) recorded by Deputy Ranger and such confessional statement was not voluntary one and it was also not recorded by an officer, competent u/s 50 of sub- section (8) of the Wild Life Protection Act.

6. Learned Addl. P.P., Mr. D. Das, referring to a certificate given in Ex- 1, contended that the statement was recorded in presence of Assistant Conservator of Forest and therefore, there was no reason for disbelieving the confessional statement.

7. From perusal of the oral testimony and the impugned judgment, it appears, that basically relying on the Ex- 1, confessional statement, the learned trial court recorded the conviction. Evidently, Ex- 1, is not a judicial confession and it can, at best, be considered as an extra judicial confession. Learned Addl. P.P. submits that the confession having been recorded by the forest officials and not by police officer, such confessional statement is not hit by section 25/26 of the Evidence Act.

8. Sub-section (8) of section 50 of the Wild Life Protection Act provides that for the purpose of making investigation into any offence against any provision of the Wild Life Protection Act, any officer not below the rank of Assis