Can police torture/force you to admit your guilt

Your query is covered by Sec 164(3) of the Cr.P.C 1973    The Magistrate recording the Confession must make sure about the existence of  " animus confestendi  which is considered as "sine qua non" requirement ofor a confession. The person confessing  must demonstrate his 1005 unamalgamted desire to confess in front of the recording Magistrate before he can be activated to record the confessio  Sec 164 (2). The Magistrate shal;l also explain to the accused that he is not bound  to make  a confessionand that ,if he does so, it may be usedas evidence against him.

Sec 164 (3) reads as under

"If at any time befoe the confession is recorded, the person appearing before the Magistrate states that he is not willing to make the cofession,the Magistrayte shall not authorise  the detention of such person in police custody".

Dr Anand P Gupta

BSc, BA,BA(Honours) MA, PhD,

There is no doubt that if the accused tells the Magistrate about the torture by the police (whether mental or physical), and if the Magistrate is prima facie satisfied about the truth of such complaint made by the accused, he has ample powers to send the accused to judicial custody instead of police custody (general powers of custody are given in Section 167 of Cr.P.C.) and moreover, he can also conduct an enquiry (or cause an enquiry to be conducted) into torture for initiating action against defaulter police officers (this will generally be under his powers to take cognizance of any offence committed in his jurisidiction, since torture by a police officer is also an offence).

thanks for your prompt reply. Normally, the magistrate, who conducts the initial hearing and grants police custody, is not involved in hearing the confessional statement of accused- so if the accused informs this magistrate of police torture, is this magistrate authorised to remand him to judicial custody or he will direct him to the same magistrate for this order? Secondly, as per Goenka’s case, police threatened him with dire consequences (but not physical torture), if he did not toe their line, how can he prove this as it is his statement against police???

thanks for your prompt reply. Normally, the magistrate, who conducts the initial hearing and grants police custody, is not involved in hearing the confessional statement of accused- so if the accused informs this magistrate of police torture, is this magistrate authorised to remand him to judicial custody or he will direct him to the same magistrate for this order? Secondly, as per Goenka’s case, police threatened him with dire consequences (but not physical torture), if he did not toe their line, how can he prove this as it is his statement against police???

Dear Querist

the person who has been tortured by police has right to file a complaint against police before court of Law or Higher authority of Police Department.