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45. The admissibility is questioned on the ground that the statements are hit by Section 26 of the Evidence Act which prohibits confession made by a person "whilst he is in the custody of a police officer". What is prohibited is only "confession", and the embargo is not extended to the statements which do not amount to confession. Admissions can be proved as against the person who makes it, and Section 21 of the Evidence Act permits such admissions being proved. The contours of Section 21 are not bounded by limitations of the person being in the custody of a police officer. There is no doubt that if the admission amounts to "confession" it transgresses into the forbidden field designed in Section 26. What is a "confession"? Neither the Evidence Act nor other statutes on criminal law defines confession. Privy Council, way back in 1939 in Narayana Swami v. Emperor, AIR 1939 PC 47, made the endeavour to explain the word "confession" as used in the Evidence Act. Lord Atkin who delivered the famous judgment in that case stated thus :