An extra judicial confession, if voluntary, can be relied upon by the Court along with other evidence in convicting the accused. The value of the evidence as to the confession depends upon the veracity of the witnesses to whom it is made. It is true that the Court requires the witness to give the actual words used by the accused as nearly as possible but it is not an invariable rule that the Court should not accept the evidence, if not the actual words but the substance were given. It is for the Court having regard to the credibility of the witness to accept the evidence or not. When the Court believes the witness before whom the confession is made and it is satisfied that the confession was voluntary, conviction can be founded on such evidence.
There is no doubt that convictions can be based on extra judicial confession but it is well settled that in the very nature of things, it is a weak piece of evidence. It is to be proved just like any other fact and the value thereof depends upon the veracity of the witness to whom it is made. It may not be necessary that the actual words used by the accused must be given by the witness but it is for the Court to decide on the acceptability of the evidence having regard to the credibility of the witnesses.
in the case of Makhan Singh v. State of Punjab (AIR 1988 SC 1705) in paragraph 11 it can be observed:
"On 10th August, 1985 FIR was lodged by Nihal Singh (PW2) and on 13.8.1985 the appellant went to Amrik Singh (PW
3) to make an extra judicial confession. Amrik Singh (PW 3) to make an extra- judicial confession. Amrik Singh says that the appellant told him that as the police was after him he had come and confessed the fact so that he might not be unnecessarily harassed. There is nothing to indicate that this Amrik Singh was a person having some influence with the police or a person of some status to protect the appellant from harassment. In his cross-examination he admits that he is neither the Lambardar or Sarpanch nor a person who is frequently visiting the police station. He further admits that when he produced the appellant there was a crowd of 10 to 12 persons. There is no other corroborative evidence about the extra-judicial confession. As rightly conceded by the learned counsel for the State that extra-judicial confession is a very weak piece of evidence and is hardly of any consequence. The council, however, mainly relied on motive, the evidence of last seen, the evidence of recovery of dead bodies and the conduct of the appellant in not making a report about the missing father and son."
The confession in the normal course of events are made to avoid harassment by the police and to a person who could otherwise protect the accused against such a harassment. The records in the present appeal do not reflect any one of these aspects. As such it is difficult to point to the accused with the crime on the basis of the evidence available in this case.