(a)(i)When an accused or suspected person volunteers a confession it should be recorded in detail by a police officer who, if it appears to be true, shall take immediate steps for its verification. Such verification should include the tracing and examination of witnesses named or indicated in the confession and the search for, or the recovery of stolen property or other exhibits material to the investigation.The officer recording the confession shall further arrange for the confessing person to be sent to Magistrate in order that the confession may be judicially recorded.(ii)Anything which savours of oppression or trickery in obtaining a confession must be avoided. The aim of a police officer should be to obtain circumstantial and oral evidence so convincing that the accused person cannot escape. If he succeeds in obtaining such evidence, the confession will often follow and will materially strengthen the case, but to seek to obtain the confession first and the corroborative evidence afterwards is to reverse the proper order of proceedings. If, however, a confession is volunteered in an inquiry, every effort must be made to ascertain if there is evidence corroborative of any point in the confession which can he verified. A statement purporting to be a confession will often be made in order to mislead the inquiring officer, and such statements are very rarely true in all particulars, and also are frequently made in order to throw blame on other persons, or with a view to deter from further inquiry. Also they are generally retracted in Court, in which case, if they stand alone and uncorroborated, they have little or no probative value. There is thus every reason for testing so-called confessions very carefully and not accepting them as final and conclusive, and stopping the inquiry.(b)(i)Every confession which a person in police custody wishes to make should be recorded by the highest Magistrate short of the District Magistrate who can be reached in a reasonable time. Confessions can be recorded only by Presidency Magistrates, Magistrates of the first class and Magistrates of the second class specially empowered by the Provincial Government.(ii)Investigating police officers should not be allowed to be present when a confession is recorded. The Magistrate should satisfy himself in every reasonable way that the confession is made voluntarily. It should be made clear to the prisoner that the making of a statement or not is within his discretion. Cognizance of complaints of ill-treatment by the police should be promptly taken and any indications of the use of improper pressure should be at once investigated. Confessions should ordinarily be recorded in open Court and during Court hours, provided that if the Magistrate is satisfied, for reasons to be recorded in writing on the form of confession, that the recording of the confession in open Court would be liable to defeat the ends of justice the confession may be recorded elsewhere. The immediate examination of an accused person directly the police bring him into Court should be deprecated, and, when feasible, a few hours for reflection in circumstances in which he cannot be influenced by the police should be given him before his statement is recorded.(c)After a confession which relates to more than one case and discloses the activities of a gang of criminals, has been judicially recorded, it should be verified by a police officer and ordinarily an Inspector should be deputed for this purposes. Should any particulars not be capable of verification without the presence of the confessing accused, an application should, with the approval of the Superintendent, be made to the District Magistrate to depute a subordinate Magistrate to verify them with his assistance. When such an application is made, a copy of the translation of the confession, together with details of the specific points that it has not been found possible to verify in the absence of the accused, must accompany the application.(d)The verification should be made with a view to discover evidence corroborative of the facts disclosed in the confession and case diaries should be submitted showing for each case all the evidence and information available on the points mentioned below :-(i)Name, father's name, residence, age and personal description of each member of the gang.(ii)The route taken by the gang.(iii)The chief incidents during the journey of the gang from start to finish, i.e., meeting with any person, visits to shops or houses for food, oil, light, axes, etc., the hiring of carts, boats or carriages, buying tickets at railway stations, crossing ferries, etc.(iv)The arrival of the gang at the scene, of occurrence and the preliminary arrangements made, lighting torches, cutting sticks, etc.(v)The commission of the crime, rooms entered, doors broken, persons tied up or assaulted, cries uttered, or threats used, boxes taken away, chests broken, open, property taken, etc.(vi)The division of stolen property.(vii)The breaking-up of the gang and the homeward route taken, etc.(e)If a confession is made by a convict undergoing imprisonment it should be judicially recorded before action is taken on it. Thereafter if it appears to have been made bona fide and not to implicate his enemies or persons who have given evidence against him it should be verified as described in clause (c) above. If a magisterial verification of any points is necessary the Provincial Government should be moved to suspend the man's sentence temporarily under section 401, Code of Criminal Procedure, as a condition of which suspension Government will require him to remain under the charge of the subordinate Magistrate whom the District Magistrate may select for the purpose.(f)If the prisoner has been confined in jail in default of finding security, the Provincial Government may not suspend his sentence, as he has not been imprisoned for an offence within the meaning of section 401, Code of Criminal Procedure. In such cases he may be released on bail, if it is forthcoming, or if not, the District Magistrate may cancel the bond under section 125 of that Code. In either case, on release, he should be rearrested and charged with an offence under sections 400 or 401, Indian Penal Code, and made over to the Magistrate in order that his confession may be recorded if this has not already been done) and verified, if needed.(g)The object of any magisterial verification will be to verify specific points in confessions when certain places or persons cannot be discovered without the assistance of the confessing accused.(k)(i)During such verification the Magistrate deputed shall be responsible for the safe custody of the prisoner and shall have sole charge of him, but the latter shall on no account be put in a police-station lock-up. No police officer of any rank shall have access to him except with the written permission of the verifying Magistrate and in his presence, and a record shall be kept of all such interviews permitted. Ordinarily such permission should not be given to any police officer directly connected with the investigation.(ii)The prisoner shall be guarded by peons arranged for by the verifying Magistrate, when such arrangements are considered sufficient to prevent the escape of or any attack on the prisoner. When the custody of peons is considered insufficient, the verifying Magistrate should apply to the District Magistrate for a guard from the Special Armed Force, but the men of this guard shall be forbidden to hold any communication with the investigating police or to converse with the prisoner, the personal wants of the prisoner being attended to by the Magistrate's peons under the eyes of the guard. (Government of Bengal Order No. 3571-P. D., dated the 6th September, 1912.)(iii)Where the use of handcuffs or other bonds is deemed necessary, the provisions of regulation 330 shall be followed.
