Retracted confession can sustain a murder conviction when voluntary, true, and independently corroborated by proved circumstances.

A retracted confession may support a murder conviction if it is voluntary, true and sufficiently corroborated by independent circumstances. The court must scrutinise the manner of making and withdrawal of the confession, seek assurance from proved facts, and disregard allegations of coercion where unsupported. Here, the caution given by the Magistrate, the accused's stated repentance, the absence of reliable evidence of police beating, and the consistency of the confession with proved facts supported reliability. Additional corroboration came from motive, presence near the scene, unexplained change of clothes, bloodstains on the trouser, and the absence of outsider intrusion or theft. The conviction was sustained.

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Issues: Whether the appellant's retracted confession was voluntary and true, and whether it was sufficiently corroborated by independent circumstances to sustain the conviction for murder.

Analysis: A confession can be relied upon if it is voluntary and true. Where a confession is retracted, the court must scrutinize the circumstances in which it was made and later withdrawn, and should look for assurance from other proved facts. In the present case, the Magistrate administered the usual caution, the appellant stated that he was confessing out of repentance, and there was no reliable evidence of police beating. The confession was found to fit the proved facts. Independent circumstances also supplied assurance: motive arising from family discord, the appellant's presence near the scene at the relevant time, his unexplained change of clothes before going to the house after the murders, bloodstains on his trouser, and absence of evidence of outsider intrusion or theft.

Conclusion: The retracted confession was voluntary and true, and it was sufficiently corroborated by independent circumstances. The conviction was therefore sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A retracted confession may form the basis of conviction if the court is satisfied that it was voluntary and true and if the proved circumstances furnish sufficient assurance of its reliability.

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