Section 67 NDPS confessions remain admissible when voluntary and not hit by Evidence Act exclusions or self-incrimination protection.

A voluntary confession recorded under Section 67 of the NDPS Act by an empowered officer is admissible and is not excluded by Sections 24 to 27 of the Evidence Act merely because the maker is in custody. The decisive factors are voluntariness and whether the person had already acquired the status of an accused so as to attract Article 20(3); an officer exercising powers under the Act is not a police officer for Section 25. A retraction must be proved and supported by material to displace the confession, and corroboration from prosecution evidence strengthens admissibility.

---

---

Issues: Whether a statement recorded under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 could be used as a confessional statement against an , and whether such statement was barred by the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 or Article 20(3) of the Constitution of India when the maker later retracted it.

Analysis: A statement recorded under Section 67 during inquiry by an officer empowered under Section 42 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 is not, by that reason alone, hit by Sections 24 to 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The decisive consideration is whether the statement was made voluntarily and whether the person had already stood in the character of an accused so as to attract the constitutional protection against self-incrimination. An officer exercising powers under Section 53 of the Act is not a police officer for the purpose of Section 25 of the Evidence Act. The Court also noted that the alleged retraction was neither proved nor supported by material on record sufficient to displace the evidentiary value of the confession, and corroboration was available from the prosecution witness.

Conclusion: The Section 67 statement was admissible and could form the sole basis of conviction, and the conviction of the appellant was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A voluntary confession recorded under Section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 by an empowered officer is admissible against the maker and is not excluded by Sections 24 to 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 merely because the maker is in custody, unless coercion or other disqualifying circumstances are proved.

---