POLICE CONFESSIONS AND ITS JUDICIAL SCRUTINY: AN ANALYSIS UNDER BHARATIYA SAKSHYA ADHINIYAM 2023
AUTHOR – K. L. RICHERSUN, STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY, NOIDA
BEST CITATION – K. L. RICHERSUN, POLICE CONFESSIONS AND ITS JUDICIAL SCRUTINY: AN ANALYSIS UNDER BHARATIYA SAKSHYA ADHINIYAM 2023, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (7) OF 2026, PG. 782-788, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
ABSTRACT
The enactment of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (hereinafter “BSA”) marks a decisive legislative departure from the colonial Indian Evidence Act of 1872, fundamentally reconfiguring the evidentiary framework governing police confessions in India. Confessions made to police officers occupy a uniquely controversial position within criminal jurisprudence—they are simultaneously indispensable investigative tools and potent instruments of abuse. The BSA, while retaining the structural core of its predecessor’s confession-related provisions, introduces subtle yet significant modifications that carry profound implications for criminal trials, custodial rights, and the constitutional guarantee against self-incrimination. This paper undertakes a comprehensive examination of the statutory provisions governing police confessions under the BSA, traces the evolution of judicial scrutiny through landmark Supreme Court decisions, and evaluates whether the new legislation adequately addresses the persistent concerns of coercion, voluntariness, and procedural fairness. It also conducts a comparative assessment with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the contemporaneous procedural code, to present a holistic picture of the reformed legal architecture. The paper concludes that while the BSA represents a constructive step toward modernisation, critical lacunae remain, particularly in relation to mandatory audio-visual documentation, legal access during interrogation, and the absence of an independent oversight mechanism for custodial confessions.
Keywords: Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, Police Confession, Custodial Confession, Judicial Scrutiny, Self-Incrimination, Voluntariness, BSA, Indian Evidence Law.