Section 25 Evidence Act applies only to true police officers; confessions to an Excise Inspector are not barred on that ground.

Section 25 of the Evidence Act applies only to a police officer in the true and accepted sense, not to every officer who is merely given limited powers of arrest, search or investigation. On that reasoning, an Excise Inspector is not treated as a police officer for Section 25, and a confession made to such an officer is not excluded on that ground alone. The text also notes that Section 24 separately governs confessions made to persons in authority where inducement, threat or promise is involved. The stated consequence is that the impugned confession remained admissible and the conviction was left undisturbed.

---

---

Issues: Whether an Excise Inspector, though invested with certain powers of arrest, search and investigation, is a "police officer" within the meaning of Section 25 of the Evidence Act; and whether a confession made to such an officer is inadmissible in evidence.

Analysis: The term "police officer" in Section 25 was construed as referring to persons who are police officers in the accepted and popular sense, not to every officer or private person who is merely vested for limited purposes with some powers ordinarily exercised by police officers. The protective rule in Section 25 could not be enlarged by reference to the supposed object of the provision or by treating possession of investigative powers as ative. Section 24 of the Evidence Act already dealt with confessions made to persons in authority under inducement, threat or promise. The Court further distinguished officers of the Excise Department from members of the police force, and held that the mere conferment of some police-like powers did not convert an Excise Inspector into a police officer for purposes of Section 25.

Conclusion: An Excise Inspector is not a police officer within Section 25 of the Evidence Act, and a confession made to him is not inadmissible on that ground.

Final Conclusion: The revision failed because the impugned confession was held admissible and the conviction was left undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 25 of the Evidence Act applies only to persons who are police officers in the true and accepted sense, and it is not attracted merely because an officer is vested with limited powers of arrest, search or investigation.

---