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Evidentiary Value of Newspaper Report

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 03-Aug-2023

Why in News?

A division bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed that the newspaper can be considered as a secondary source of evidence under the IEA. The bench was hearing appeals namely Kadira Jeevan v. State of Karnataka and B.S. Dinesh v. State of Karnataka.

Background

  • The appellants A1 and A3 were convicted for the offence of murder of the victim by shooting him.
  • The High Court convicted them and awarded a life imprisonment.
  • It was noted by the Apex Court that the conviction of the A1 was based on a newspaper report.
  • The correspondent who was examined as Prosecution Witness 21 (PW-21) claimed that he visited the District Jail and interviewed the 1st and 8th accused inside the Jail premises.
  • He further claimed that he published the newspaper report on the basis of his interaction with the accused and their answers related to the incident.
  • However, it was noted that the correspondent whose testimony led to conviction had not directly interacted with the accused and just overheard the statements given by the accused.
  • A sub-editor interacted with the accused who was not examined by the Court.
  • The Apex Court acquitted both of the accused by considering the evidence to be unacceptable.

Court’s Observations

  • The Apex Court opined that the appellants have succeeded in making out a case of inadequate evidence to sustain their conviction under the impugned judgment of the High Court.

Confession

  • The term ‘confession’ is nowhere defined or expressed in IEA however, the concept explained under the definition of admission in Section 17 of IEA is also applicable on the term confession in the like manner.
  • A litmus test differentiates between confession and admission.
    • Confession is some statements which alone has the value of convicting the accused.
    • Admission requires some supplementary or secondary evidence to prove the conviction of the accused.
  • Section 26 of the IEA states that no confession made by any person whilst he is in the custody of a police officer, unless it be made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate, shall be proved as against such person.

Extra Judicial Confession

  • An extra judicial confession may be defined as a confession made outside the Court or not in the immediate presence of the magistrate.
  • Such confessions are made before a private person or police officer.
  • A confession made to oneself is also considered as an extra judicial confession.
  • The court of law in several cases held the extra judicial confession as a weak piece of evidence.
  • The Court in the case of Chandrapal v. State of Chhattisgarh (2022) held that extra judicial confession made by co-accused could be admitted in evidence only for corroboration.

Cases on Evidentiary Value of Newspaper Reports

The landmark cases into which the hon’ble courts observed that the newspaper report is not credible evidence in itself are:

  • Laxmi Raj Shetty & Anr. v. State of Tamil Nadu, (1988):
    • It was held by the Court that a report in a newspaper is only hearsay evidence.
    • The Court further said that a newspaper is not one of the documents referred to in Section 78(2) of IEA by which an allegation of fact can be proved.
    • It was laid in this case that the presumption of genuineness attached under Section 81 of IEA to a newspapers report cannot be treated as proof of the facts reported therein.
  • Naval Kishore v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2022)
    • The Court observed in this case that it is trite law that there must be legal evidence in support of the allegations levelled against a person.
    • In the present case the only evidence relied upon is the newspaper reporting that is not legal evidence but hearsay evidence.
    • Newspaper reports need to be corroborated.