Confession

A confession must either admit in terms the offence, or at any rate

substantially all the facts which constitute the offence.
Confessions by an accuse person example an admission by him about
the fact charged against him.
Statement without prejudice, Section 9.2

In Criminal Cases there are special conditions governing the admissibility
of confession.

 In many countries there are no distinct provisions for the purpose

between a full confession and a mere incriminating admission.

A confession means an admission made by a person charged with a

crime stating or suggesting the inference that s/he committed that crime.
• Indian Evidence Act does not make separate definition of
Confession.

• It says the similar definition of Admission as follows;

An admission is a statement, 1[oral or documentary or
contained in electronic form], which suggests any inference
as to any fact in issue or relevant fact, and which is made by
any of the persons, ( Section 17)
 There are Judicial confession (direct evidence)and extra-
judicial confession (indirect evidence)
  The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) of the
United Kingdom says;
“Confession includes any statement wholly or partly adverse
to the person who made it, whether made to a person in
authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise
Section 82(1)”

 An admission of guilty made to another by a person charged

with a crime.
 A Confession is an admission made at any time by a person
charged with a crime stating or accused the inference s/he
committed that crime.
• Confessions made during questioning are seen as powerful
indications of guilt and characteristically lead to conviction;  
As such, legal representatives of suspects who have
confessed are unlikely to secure acquittal unless the
confession is excluded from the evidence before the court. 

• A confession made by an accused to be used as evidence

against their co-accused to the extent that it is relevant to a
mater in issues in the proceedings.
• A Saunders V United Kingdom case adopted
confession as a broad view of self-incrimination.

• Rights relating to Criminal justice: Right against

Self-Incrimination Article 20(7) The Constitution of
Nepal 2015. Contradiction between principle of
Right Against Self-Incrimination and Confession.

• Hostile (admission) and Confession

 • The Evidence Act of Nepal 2031.

• Facts expressed by the party: (1) Any fact expressed by

the party to a case may be taken as evidence against
him/her. (Section 9)

• Facts expressed by a person when in the normal

condition who is then dead (Section 11)
As the fact expressed by a person, who is dead but who
expressed it in the dying stage when he/she was in a
normal condition regarding to the cause of his or her
death, may be taken as evidence.
• Special Facts Expressed by the Persons in Special
Situation, Condition, or Position: Section 12. It should be
tested by the courts.

BURDEN OF PROOF
• Burden of proof of proving an offence: The burden of
proof of proving that the accused has committed the
offence in a criminal case shall lie on the plaintiff (Section
25)
• Acquittal is subject to burden of proof by an accused
person(Section 27).
 Confession covers the following purposes

• A Confession as a statement to admit the accused charge.

• A party may confess the truth of the whole or a part of accused
charge.
• Oral or written confession
• Complete or incomplete (partial) confession
• Relevant or irrelevant confession
• A Confession as evidence of contradictory statements. It
shall be proved/testified with other means.
• Confession as evidence of truth (relevant evidence)
• A partial confession as only suggest to inference punishment
(deduction, presumption, conclusion of punishment)
Thank You