Confession before IO not admissible: Supreme Court

New Delhi, October 29

Maintaining that officers of the Central and state agencies appointed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act are police officers, the apex court today ruled that statements recorded by them were not admissible as evidence during trial.

“The officers who are invested with powers under Section 53 of the NDPS Act are ‘police officers’ within the meaning of Section 25 of the Evidence Act, as a result of which any confessional statement made to them cannot be taken into account in order to convict an accused under the NDPS Act,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice RF Nariman said in a 2:1 verdict. The majority verdict was delivered by Justice Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha, while Justice Indira Banerjee delivered a dissenting judgment. — TNS