A study of the Indian Evidence Act reveals that the word 'confession' has not been defined in this Act. However, the Courts in our country adopted the definition of 'confession' given in Art. 22 of Stephen's Digest of the Law of Evidence. In accord with this definition, confession is an ad. mission made at any time by a person charged with crime, stating or suggesting the inference that he committed the crime. This definition was continued to be accepted by our courts for a considerable span of time till it was finally discarded by the Judicial Committee in Pakala Narayan swami v. Emperor, AIR 1939 P c 47 at p. 52:40 cri L J 364. Lord Atkin made the observation in this decision : ".... no statement that contains self-exculpatory matter can an rant to confession, if the exculpatory statement is of some fact which, if true, would negative the offence alleged to be confessed. Moreover, a confession must either admit in terms the offence, or at any rate substantially all th ....