Aghnoo Nagesia v. State of Bihar

Facts

The accused himself lodged the FIR at the police station narrating how he had killed four relatives and disposed of the bodies. The prosecution sought to rely on this self-incriminating first information report to convict him. The question was how much, if any, of a confession made to a police officer could be used against the accused.

Issues

• What constitutes a 'confession' for the purposes of Sections 24-26 of the Evidence Act?
• Whether a confessional FIR made to a police officer can be partly admitted (severed) so that incriminating non-confessional admissions are used against the maker?
• To what extent does Section 27 of the Evidence Act save such a statement?

Arguments

The State argued that even if the confessional portions were barred, the non-confessional admissions of fact (motive, identity, surrounding circumstances) in the FIR were severable and admissible against the accused. The defence contended that the entire FIR was a confession made to a police officer, barred wholly by Sections 25-26 of the Evidence Act and Section 162 CrPC, and could not be dissected.

Held

The Court held that a confession is an admission of the offence or substantially all the facts constituting the offence, and where a confession is excluded by Sections 24-26, the whole confessional statement, including the admission of minor incriminating facts and statements of motive or preparation, must be excluded; the doctrine of severability does not apply to extract incriminating parts. The only exception is Section 27, under which a distinct fact deposed to as discovered in consequence of the information may be proved. Since the FIR here was a confession made to a police officer, it was wholly inadmissible save for any portion strictly falling within Section 27, and the conviction could not rest on it.

Ratio decidendi

A confession made to a police officer is inadmissible as a whole against its maker under Sections 25-26 of the Evidence Act and cannot be severed to admit incriminating particulars; the sole carve-out is the fact discovered under Section 27.

Significance

The leading and most-cited authority on the meaning of 'confession', the indivisibility of a confessional statement, and the interplay of Sections 25-27 Evidence Act with Sections 162/164 CrPC. It remains the governing principle under the corresponding provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (Ss 22-23 BSA) and BNSS, consistently followed in later FIR-as-confession cases.

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