Question

A statement made by an accused person before the trial begins, by which he admits to have committed the offence, but which he repudiates at the trial is known as ----------

• A. Extra-judicial confession
• B. Judicial confession
• C. Retracted confession
• D. Voluntary confession

Hint:

Understand the classification of confessions. Judicial vs. Extra-judicial refers to *to whom* the confession is made. Retracted refers to the *action* of the accused taking it back. A retracted confession does not become inadmissible, but its evidentiary value is significantly weakened, and courts generally look for strong corroboration before relying on it.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The way to solve this is to notice that three of the four labels answer a different question than the one being asked.

1. Where and how it was made: "Extra-judicial," "judicial" and "voluntary" all describe features of the original confession itself, its location or the circumstances of obtaining it, none of which is what the question is testing.
2. What happened afterward: The question is specifically about a confession that is later denied at trial, which is a description of what happened to the confession after it was made, not where or how it originated.
3. Match the label to the timeline: The only term describing this later denial is "retracted confession," regardless of whether the original admission was judicial, extra-judicial or voluntary.

The correct answer is Retracted confession.

Answer 2

Another way to see this clearly is to imagine the same fact pattern with each label substituted in, and check which one still makes sense as a complete description.

1. Extra-judicial confession: Saying "an extra-judicial confession is a statement made before trial which he repudiates at trial" mixes up two unrelated ideas, since a confession can be extra-judicial whether or not it is ever later withdrawn; the label does not carry any information about retraction.
2. Judicial confession: The same problem applies here; a confession recorded before a magistrate is called judicial purely because of where it was recorded, and that label would remain accurate even if the accused never went on to deny it at trial.
3. Retracted confession: Substituting this label produces an accurate, self-contained description, "a statement admitting guilt which is later denied at trial is a retracted confession," which matches the question's wording precisely without needing any additional facts.
4. Voluntary confession: This label concerns free will at the time of making the statement, an entirely separate question from whether the maker later goes back on it, and substituting it here would not correctly describe the later denial at all.

Only the retraction label produces a complete and accurate match to the fact pattern described.

Hence, the correct answer is Retracted confession.