Strict compliance for magistrate-recorded confessions: oral proof cannot cure non-compliance with mandatory criminal procedure safeguards.

A confession purportedly recorded under Section 164 CrPC is admissible only if the magistrate is authorised and the prescribed procedure is strictly followed. The statutory mode of exercise is mandatory, so a confession recorded in breach of those requirements cannot be validated by oral evidence. Section 533 does not dilute the procedure; it permits oral proof only where compliance actually occurred but is not reflected in the record. Allowing oral evidence to cure non-compliance would defeat the safeguards in Sections 164 and 364. Oral evidence was therefore inadmissible, and the acquittal remained undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether oral evidence of a confession purportedly recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was admissible when the magistrate was not authorised to record it and the prescribed procedure was not followed.

Analysis: The power conferred by Section 164 is coupled with a prescribed mode of exercise, and the section must be complied with strictly. The principle that when a statute requires a thing to be done in a particular manner it must be done in that manner or not at all applies to confessions recorded by magistrates. Section 533 does not relax the statutory procedure; it only permits oral evidence in limited circumstances to prove that the procedure was in fact followed where the record does not show compliance. If oral evidence were allowed to prove a confession purportedly recorded under Section 164 despite non-compliance with the statutory requirements, the safeguards built into Sections 164 and 364 would be rendered ineffective.

Conclusion: Oral evidence of the confession was inadmissible, and the respondents' acquittal could not be disturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes the manner in which a power to record a confession must be exercised, the prescribed procedure is mandatory and excludes proof by other means that would defeat the statutory safeguards.

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