Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lays down that any Magistrate of first-class and any Magistrate of second-class specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government may record any statement or confession made to him in the course of investigation or at any time afterwards before the commencement of the inquiry or trial. This general provision in sub-sec. (I) is followed by two other sub-sections, out of which sub-sec. (2) deals both with statements and confessions, while sub-sec. (3) lays down only the cautionary rule to be followed while recording a confession. Thus sub-sec. (2) says that such a statement shall be recorded in such of the manners prescribed for recording evidence as in the opinion of the Magistrate be best fitted for the circumstances of the case. The sub-section further lays down that such a confession shall be recorded and signed in the manner provided in Sec. 364. There is, thus, a distinction between the manners of recording of a statement an ....