Customs statements under Section 108 are admissible if voluntary; Section 164 CrPC safeguards do not apply.

Statements recorded by a gazetted customs officer under Section 108 of the Customs Act are admissible in evidence without compliance with Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The provision authorises customs officers to summon a person and require a truthful statement in a smuggling inquiry, but it does not require magisterial recording. The statement remains subject to the ordinary test of voluntariness, and any involuntary or coerced confession may be excluded under Section 24 of the Evidence Act. The governing principle is that Section 164 safeguards do not apply to Section 108 statements, because they are made to a non-police officer.

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Issues: Whether a statement recorded by customs officers under Section 108 of the Customs Act is inadmissible unless the precautions prescribed in Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are complied with.

Analysis: Section 108 authorises a gazetted customs officer to summon a person and require him to state the truth in an inquiry connected with smuggling. The provision does not contemplate magisterial recording of statements, and the safeguards applicable to a confession recorded by a Magistrate under Section 164 of the Code do not govern such a statement. A statement made to a non-police officer under Section 108 is not barred from evidence merely because it is inculpatory, though its voluntariness must still be tested and any vitiation under Section 24 of the Evidence Act would render it unusable. The settled position in earlier decisions was therefore inconsistent with the view that Section 164 compliance was mandatory for admissibility.

Conclusion: The statement recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act is admissible in evidence, and compliance with Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not required.

Final Conclusion: The refusal of leave to appeal was set aside, and the appeal in the High Court was directed to proceed in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A statement recorded by a customs officer under Section 108 is admissible if voluntary, and its admissibility is tested under the rules governing voluntariness of confessions to non-police officers, not by the safeguards applicable to magisterial confessions under Section 164 of the Code.

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