285. Interview with convicts in jails. [§ 12, Act V, 1861].
(a)Attention should be paid by Superintendents and police officers generally to the very important subjects of obtaining information from criminals after their conviction. Such information should be received and acted upon with caution, but it can and should be obtained, and a good police officer should know how to utilise it.(b)It should be distinctly understood that the main object of interviewing a convict is not to obtain a confession but information. On many occasions an outbreak of crime has been eventually traced to new gangs, ana, therefore, when the investigation has established that none of the gangs known to the police have been concerned in the outbreak, the investigating officer will frequently obtain a clue to the gangs concerned from a convicted prisoner in jail whose home,is in the affected area. Much useful information can also be obtained from convicts regarding receivers and the whereabouts of stolen property.(c)It may sometimes happen that from the demeanour in Court or at jail parades of a convicted person, the Court officer may consider that such person can be interviewed with advantage. In such cases it is the duty of the Court officer to report accordingly to the Superintendent.(d)No police officer shall be permitted to interview or interrogate any prisoner in confinement in jail without the permission of the Magistrate of the district, or, in his absence, of the Magistrate in charge, or, if the prisoner be confined in the Presidency Jail, without the permission of the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, or of the Inspector-General. The permission shall be given in the form of a written order addressed to the Superintendent of the jail. The permission shall be obtained through the Superintendent of Police, or in his absence, through the officer-in-charge at headquarters. As a rule permission to interview a convicted prisoner in jail should not be accorded to an officer below the rank of Sub-Inspector, and, whenever possible, the interview should take place in the morning during the hours when the Civil Surgeon or Superintendent of the jail is visiting the jail.(e)If in the course of an interview a convict makes a statement which amounts to a confession, the officer to whom the statement is made shall at once inform the Superintendent of Police who shall either personally interview the convict or depute an officer not below the rank of Inspector to record the statement. If the confession is of an important nature implicating a gang of dacoits or professional criminals, the Superintendent shall immediately forward a copy of it to the Deputy Inspector-General, Criminal Investigation Department, or in political cases, to the Deputy Inspector-General, Intelligence Branch. The Deputy Inspector-General shall, on receipt of the confession or statement, use his discretion under regulation 616, whether he will immediately assume control of the investigation or leave the case to be dealt with by the local authorities under the control of the Deputy Inspector-General of the Range. Pending receipt of orders from the Deputy Inspector-General, Criminal Investigation Department or Intelligence Branch, the Superintendent shall take steps to have the confession recorded by a Magistrate and to follow up any clues furnished by the confessing prisoner.(f)It must be understood that the above regulation applies to statements made by convicted prisoners in jail. The procedure to be followed when a person accused or suspected of a crime volunteers a confession and the method of verification of it have been laid down in regulation 283.
