Compulsion, Confession and Article 20(3)
Tamilnadu, India
Volume II, Issue I, 2018
Confession is an admission made at any time by a person charged with a crime stating or suggesting the inference that he committed the crime. The Criminal Justice System in India is adversarial in nature and requires the prosecution to investigate prove the guilt of the accused person. Self-incrimination is a situation whereby the accused either by compulsion or force is made to provide a statement against himself by the prosecution. Article 20 (3) protects the accused person from self-incrimination. Right to remain silent is an essential of fair trial and every accused has the right to fair, just and equitable procedures to be followed in each stages of the trial. The Indian Evidence Act renders inadmissible any statement which amount to confession made by the accused when under the custody of Police. A confession made when under the influence of any inducement, threat or promise is also inadmissible. Section 161, 313 and 315 of the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973 provides a presumption which provides a conducive situation in favour of the innocence of the accused. The adequacy of the present legislative measure in preventing the abuse of power by the police and self-incrimination is analysed