Provided that when any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequences of information received from a person accused of any offence, in the custody of a police officer, so much of such information, whether if amounts to a confessions or not, as relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered, may be proved.
Simplified Explanation
Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is an exception to Sections 25 and 26, which generally render confessions made to police officers or while in police custody inadmissible. Section 27 allows certain parts of a statement made by an accused person to be admissible, particularly when that statement leads to the discovery of new and relevant evidence.
Explanation:
- Discovery of Facts:
- Section 27 allows the admissibility of information provided by an accused person that leads to the discovery of new facts or evidence. This means that if an accused person, while in custody, gives information that directly leads to the discovery of a fact (such as the location of a weapon, stolen goods, etc.), that part of the information can be used as evidence in court.
- Relevancy of Information:
- Only the portion of the statement that directly relates to the fact discovered is admissible. The rest of the confession, which might be irrelevant to the discovery, remains inadmissible. This means that the law only allows the introduction of information that has a direct and concrete result in the form of new evidence.
- Custody of Police:
- The section applies to information given by an accused while in the custody of a police officer. Even though statements made in police custody are generally inadmissible under Sections 25 and 26, Section 27 allows an exception for those parts of the statement that lead to the discovery of a fact.
- Balancing Protection and Investigation:
- Section 27 balances the need to protect accused persons from coercion with the practical necessity of using certain information to further a criminal investigation. It ensures that police can use valuable information to discover evidence while preventing the misuse of involuntary confessions.
Example:
Imagine a case where A is accused of murder and is in police custody. During interrogation, A tells the police, “I hid the knife I used to kill the victim under a rock near the river.”
- Discovery of Fact: Based on this information, the police go to the specified location and find the knife under the rock near the river.
- Admissibility under Section 27: The part of A’s statement that led the police to discover the knife (“I hid the knife under a rock near the river”) is admissible in court as evidence under Section 27. This is because the information directly resulted in the discovery of a fact (the location of the knife), which is relevant to the case.
- Inadmissible Portions: Any other part of A’s confession, such as details of how the crime was committed, which does not directly relate to the discovery of the knife, remains inadmissible if made while in police custody.
Significance:
Section 27 is significant because it allows the use of crucial evidence that may be discovered as a result of information provided by the accused, even if the accused is in police custody. This provision is crucial in criminal investigations, where the discovery of physical evidence can be pivotal to solving a case. However, it also carefully limits the use of such information to prevent the misuse of coerced confessions, ensuring that only the directly relevant parts of the statement that lead to new evidence are admissible. This section strikes a balance between protecting the rights of the accused and enabling effective criminal investigation.
