Section 27

Section 27 is the most frequently invoked — and most litigated — evidence provision in Indian criminal trials. It is the 'discovery exception' to the Section 25 police confession bar. **The principle:** Even though a confession to a police officer is inadmissible under Section 25, if that confession leads to the discovery of a physical fact, the portion of the confession that relates to the discovery is admissible. The logic: the physical fact (the weapon, the stolen goods, the body) is independent corroborating evidence. Its discovery through the accused's statement provides a link between the accused and the crime that goes beyond the inadmissible words. **Four conditions for Section 27 admissibility:** 1. *Information from an accused:* The person giving the information must be formally accused — not merely a witness or suspect. 2. *In police custody:* The accused must be in police custody at the time — Section 27 does not apply to voluntary statements made outside custody. 3. *Discovery of a fact:* The information must actually lead to the discovery of something — not just point to something already known to police. The discovery must be new. 4. *The admissible portion:* Only the part of the statement that 'relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered' is admissible — not the whole confession. 'I stabbed him and buried the knife in the garden' — only 'buried the knife in the garden' (relating to the discovered knife) is admissible, not the rest. **The 'fact' discovered:** Courts have held that 'fact' means a physical, tangible fact — an object, a body, a place. The weapon, the stolen goods, the hidden body, the buried money — all qualify. Abstract facts or admissions ('I was planning to kill him') do not qualify as Section 27 'facts'. **The Mohmed Inayatullah test:** The Supreme Court in Mohmed Inayatullah v. State of Maharashtra (1976) set the standard test: the discovery must be 'distinctly in consequence of' the information — there must be a direct causal link between the statement and the discovery. **Admissibility of recovery memo:** When Section 27 is invoked, the prosecution usually produces the panchanama (recovery memo) — a document recording the discovery in the presence of independent witnesses. The panchanama is evidence of the recovery; the Section 27 statement is evidence linking the recovery to the accused.