Statements to
police and use
thereof.
- (1) No statement made by any person to a police officer in the course of an
investigation under this Chapter, shall, if reduced to writing, be signed by the person
making it; nor shall any such statement or any record thereof, whether in a police diary or
otherwise, or any part of such statement or record, be used for any purpose, save as
hereinafter provided, at any inquiry or trial in respect of any offence under investigation at
the time when such statement was made:
Provided that when any witness is called for the prosecution in such inquiry or trial
whose statement has been reduced into writing as aforesaid, any part of his statement, if
duly proved, may be used by the accused, and with the permission of the Court, by the
prosecution, to contradict such witness in the manner provided by section 148 of the
Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023; and when any part of such statement is so used, any
part thereof may also be used in the re-examination of such witness, but for the purpose
only of explaining any matter referred to in his cross-examination.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to apply to any statement falling within
the provisions of clause (a) of section 26 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023; or to
affect the provisions of the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 23 of that Adhiniyam.
Explanation.—An omission to state a fact or circumstance in the statement referred
to in sub-section (1) may amount to contradiction if the same appears to be significant and
otherwise relevant having regard to the context in which such omission occurs and whether
any omission amounts to a contradiction in the particular context shall be a question of fact.