' The detenus have been produced by the S.I. And A.S.I. The latter state that Sultan, who is complainant in a case F.I.R. No, 371/94 under sections 457 and 380, P.P.C., and one Riaz expressed that the aforesaid persons and one Riaz son of Fateh Muhammad were involved in the commission of theft. They, I therefore, arrested these persons under section 54 of the Cr.P.C. The detenus were made to join investigation but nothing was recovered from them.
2. Record has been perused. It appears that the statement of Sultan, complainant, and one Riaz recorded under section 161 of the Cr.P.C. Do not reveal any reasonable suspicion. Instead there is a bald assertion that the stolen property will be recovered if the detenus are joined in the investigation. It will be advantageous to reproduce the relevant provision of section 54, Cr.P.C.: "54--(1) Any Police Officer may, without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest-- first, any person who has been concerned in any cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned."
I am of the opinion that the information imparted by the complainant does not fulfil the requirements of clause (1) of section 54 of the Cr.P.C. Because the words used in clause first of that section are 'credible' and 'reasonable' information which denotes it must be at least based on some definite fact tending to throw suspicion on the person arrested and not mere surmises or conjectures. See Abdul Qayyum v. S.H.O., Police Station Shalimar, Lahore 1993 P Cr. L J 91.
3. Pursuant to the above discussion, this petition is accepted and the detenus, Asghar Ali, Muhammad Yousaf and Waris Ali, are set at liberty and the police is debarred from summoning