"Kartar Singh (supra) says that confession should be recorded in a free atmosphere. Recording of confessional statements in a heavily guarded BSF camp or in a JIC where the atmosphere for an accused would generally be daunting and overbearing cannot be said to be in a free atmosphere. It has come on record that the confessional statements so recorded were not accepted by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate whereafter those were sent directly to the Special Court which again is an infraction of the statute."
The Court lamented that the "the procedural safeguards were given a complete go-bye."
The Court noted that the Special Court had stopped short of observing that it was a case of abuse of power and authority, and that the procedural safeguards were completely disregarded.
The Court also added that the failure to recover the murder weapon (AK-47 rifle) seriously damaged the prosecution's case, weakening forensic evidence. The forensic witness had testified that he had not seen the AK-47 rifle from which the cartridges were fired.
The Court underlined that witnesses could not identify the accused, making their testimony unreliable. The witnesses described the kidnappers as young men with moustaches but could not identify them.
State (CBI) Vs Mohd. Salim Zargar @ Fayaz & Ors
