CrPC § 164 — Power to record statements and confessions

Statutory text (English)

(1) 2[3* * *,Any Magistrate of the first class and
any Magistrate of the second class specially empowered in this behalf by the 4[Provincial Government] may,
if he is not a police-officer] record any statement or confession made to him in the course of an investigation
under this Chapter or at any time afterwards before the commencement of the inquiry or trial.
5[(1-A) Any such statement may be recorded by such Magistrate in the presence of the accused, and the
accused given an opportunity of cross-examining the witness making the statement.]

(2) Such statements shall be recorded in such of the manners hereinafter prescribed for recording
evidence as is, in his opinion best fitted for the circumstances of the case. Such confessions shall be
recorded and signed in the manner provided in section 364, and such statements or confessions shall then be
forwarded to the Magistrate by whom the case is to be inquired into or tried.

(3) 6[A Magistrate shall, before recording any such confession, explain to the person making it that he is
not bound to make a confession and that if he does so it may be used as evidence against him and no
Magistrate] shall record any such confession unless, upon questioning the person making it, he has reason to
believe that it was made voluntarily; and, when he records any confession, he shall make a memorandum at
the foot of such record to the following effect:—
["I have explained to (name) that he is not bound to make a confession and that, if he does so, any
confession he may make may be used as evidence against him and I believe] that this confession was
voluntarily made. It was taken in my presence and hearing, and was read over to the person making it and
admitted by him to be correct, and it contains a full and true account of the statement made by him.
(Signed) A.B.,
Magistrate."

Explanation.—It is not necessary that the Magistrate receiving and recording a confession or statement
should be a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case.

Source and verification

Source citation: CrPC (Act V of 1898) s.164: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE' (Act No. V of 1898, last amended 2017-02-16), p. 81, 82, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

The record cites an official source, but its transcription is automated or only partly checked; a human re-check is pending.

Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

1 historical record is linked to this section. Historical wording may be incomplete or pending verification; it is not presented as current law.

• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 81, 82) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment…

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