17 allegedly helped the police find the dead body. Similarly, Raja Yadav was not arrested by the time his confession was recorded and he was not ‘accused of any offence’ when he allegedly helped the police in seizing his blood-stained clothes. In effect, they were not in the ‘custody of the police’ at that time. In that situation, the vital question that would arise is as to the legal sanctity of the procedure adopted by the police and, in consequence, the value to be attached to the seizures made by them on the strength of such so-called confessions. 22. Section 26 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (for brevity, ‘the Evidence Act’), provides that no confession made by any person whilst he is in the custody of a police officer shall be proved against such person, unless it is made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate. Section 27, thereafter, is in the nature of an exception to Section 26 of the Evidence Act. It states that, when any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of any offence, in the custody of a police officer, so much of such information, whether it amounts to a confession or not, as relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered, may be proved. Therefore, it is essential under Section 27 of the Evidence Act that the person concerned must be ‘accused of an offence’ and being in the ‘custody of a police officer’, he or she must give information leading to the discovery of a fact and so much of that information, whether it amounts to a confession or not, that relates distinctly to the fact discovered, may be proved against him. In effect, both aspects, viz, being in ‘the custody of a police officer’ and being ‘accused of an offence’, are