AGHNOO NAGESIA versus STATE OF BIHAR

Citation: [1966] 1 S.C.R. 134 · Decided: 04-05-1965 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: K. SUBBA RAO, RAGHUBAR DAYAL, R.S. BACHAWAT · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 9 judgment(s) · cites 1 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

134 
AGHNOO NAGESIA 
A 
v. 
STATE OF BlliAR 
May 4, 1965 
[K. SUBBA RAo, RAGHUBAR DAYAL AND R. S. BACHAWAT, JJ.] 
B 
Indian Evidence Act (! of 1872), s. 25-Ban on confession made to a 
police officer--Confessional F.J.R .. by accUsed-Ban whether applies to 
lvhole statement or only those part showing actual commission of crime. 
The appellant was tried for murder. 
The principal evidence against 
him consisted Qf a first information report containing a full conf~sion 
of the crime. 
The appellant was convicted under s. 302 Indian Penal 
C 
Code by the trial court and the High Court upheld the conviction. 
By 
special leave he appealed to the Supreme Court. 
The question before the court was whether the whole confessional 
statemeQt in the first information report \Vas banned by s. 25 
of the 
EvidencC Act or only those portions of it \Vere barred which related to 
the actual commission of the crime. 
HELD : A confession may consist of several parts and may reveal not 
D 
only the actual commission of the crime but also the motive, the prcpara-
tiOn, the provocation etc. 
If the confession is tainted the taint attaches 
• 
to the whole statement of the accused. [140 B-C] 
If a statement contains an admission of an offence, not only that 
2!.dmission but also every other· admission of an incriminating fact contained 
in the statement is part of the confession. 
Little substance and content 
• 
would be left in ss. 24, 25 and 26 if proof of admissions of incriminating 
E 
facts in a confessional statement is permitted .. [140 D-E, F] 
The appellant's first information report was a confessional statement 
to a police officer and as such no pan of it could be admitted iqto evid-
ence on account of the b;in in s. 25 except in so far as the ban was lifted 
by s. 27 and except in so far as it identifi-cd the appe11ant as the maker 
of the report. [143 F-G] 
Case law considered. 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 
37 of 1965. 
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated 
November 9, 1964 of the Patna High Court in Criminal Appeal 
F 
No. 200 of 1964 and Death Reference No. 9 of 1964. 
G 
K. K. Jain, for the appellant. 
S. P. Varma and R. N. Sachthey, for the respondent. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
Bachawat, J. 
The appellant was charged under s. 302 of 
H 
the Indian Penal Code for murdering his aunt, Ratni, her daugh-
ter, Chamin, her son-in-law, Soµira and Dilu, son of Somra. He 
• 
• 
... 
• 
• 
• 
AGHNOO NAGESIA v. STATE (Bachawat, J.) 
135 
A was convicted and sentenced to death by the Judicial Commis-
sioner of Chotanagpur. 
The High Court of Patna accepted the 
death reference, confirmed the conviction and sentence and dis-
missed the appeal preferred by the appellant. 
The appe!lant 
now appeals to this Court by special leave. 
B 
The prosecution case is that on August 11, 1963 between 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
7 a.m. and 8 a.m. the appellant murdered Somra in a forest known 
as Dnngijharan Hills and later Chamin in Kesari Garha field and 
then Ratni and Dilu in the house of Ratni at village J amtoli. 
The first information of the offences was lodged by the appel-
lant himself at police station Palkot on August 11, 1963 at 
3-15 p.m. 
The information was reduced to writing by the officer-
in-charge, Sub-Inspector H. P. Choudhury, and the appellant 
affixed his left thumb-impression on the report. The Sub Inspec-
tor immediately took cognizance of the offence, and arrested the 
appellant. 
The next day, the Sub Inspector in the company of 
the appellant went to the house of Ratni, where the appellant 
pointed out the dead bodies of Ratni and Dilu and also a place 
in the orchard of Ratni covered with bushes and grass, where he 
had concealed a tangi. 
The appellant then took the Sub Inspec-
tor and witnesses to Kasiari garha khet and pointed out the dead 
body of Chamin lying in a ditch covered with Ghunghu. 
The 
appellant then took the Sub Inspector and the witnesses to Dungi-
jharan Hills, where he pointed out the dead body of Somra lying 
in the slope of the hills to the north. 
The Sub Inspector also 
recovered from the appellant's house a chadar stained with human 
blood. 
The evidence of P. W. 6 shows that the appellant had 
gone to the forest on the morning of August 11, 1963. 
The medical evidence discloses incised wounds on all the dead 
bodies. 
The injuries were caused by a sharp-cutting weapon 
such as a tang!. 
All the four persons were brutally murdered. 
There

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.