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• It includes any kind of restriction, restraint or even surveillance by the police. Even if the accused was not formally arrested at the time of giving information, the accused ought to be deemed, for all practical purposes, in the custody of the police,
• isagreed with the recent judgment delivered by a 3-judge bench in Rajesh v. State of MP 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 814 which held that Section 27 of the Evidence Act is not applicable if the person was not in the formal custody of the police as an accused in the cas
• bar under Section 25 of the Evidence Act applies equally whether or not the person against whom evidence is sought to be led in a criminal trial was in custody at the time of making the confession.
• not mean formal custody but includes any kind of surveillance, restriction, or restraint by the police
• observed that the words “person accused of an offence” and the words “in the custody of a police officer” in Section 27 of the Evidence Act are separated by a comma. Thus, they have to be read distinctively

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