Explanation:

SHAILENDRA RAJDEV PASVAN AND OTHERS ….. APPELLANT(S) VERSUS STATE OF GUJARAT ETC. …2017
In Sahadevan v. State of T.N.5 referring to the aspect of evidentiary value of extra-judicial confession, it was observed: “ It is a settled principle of criminal jurisprudence that extra-judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence. Wherever the court, upon due appreciation of the entire prosecution evidence, intends to base a conviction on an extra-judicial confession, it must ensure that the same inspires confidence and is corroborated by other prosecution evidence. If, however, the extra-judicial confession suffers from material discrepancies or inherent improbabilities and does not appear to be cogent as per the prosecution version, it may be difficult for the court to base a conviction on such a confession. In such circumstances, the court would be fully justified in ruling such evidence out of consideration.” Elaborating on the jurisprudence that has evolved with regard to extra-judicial confessions, this Court in Sahadevan (supra) had stipulated the principles that are required to be kept in mind while relying on extra-judicial confession as evidence. These principles have been succinctly mentioned in Jagroop Singh v. State of Punjab6 as: “30. Recently, in Sahadevan v. State of T.N., after referring to the rulings in Sk. Yusuf v. State of W.B. and Pancho v. State of Haryana, a two-Judge Bench has laid down that the extra-judicial confession is a weak evidence by itself and it has to be State of Haryana, a two-Judge Bench has _________________ 5 (2012) 6 SCC 403 6 (2012) 11 SCC 768 Criminal Appeal Nos.333-334 of 2017 Page 13 of 16 laid down that the extra-judicial confession is a weak evidence by itself and it has to be examined by the court with greater care and caution; that it should be made voluntarily and should be truthful; that it should inspire confidence; that an extra-judicial confession attains greater credibility and evidentiary value if it is supported by a chain of cogent circumstances and is further corroborated by other prosecution evidence; that for an extra-judicial confession to be the basis of conviction, it should not suffer from any material discrepancies and inherent improbabilities; and that such statement essentially has to be proved like any other fact and in accordance with law."