Court Rules "Reason to Believe" Must Be Evidence-Based for Customs Searches; Orders Release of Seized Goods.

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....Interpretation of the phrase "reason to believe" u/s 110 of the Customs Act, which is a crucial safeguard for authorizing officers to conduct searches. The court examined the legal principles governing "reason to believe," emphasizing that it cannot be arbitrary, capricious, or whimsical, and must be based on material evidence. The officer must independently apply their mind and not merely reproduce statutory words mechanically. The reasons must be self-explanatory and cannot be supported by extraneous material. In the present case, the suspected opinion of local traders that the seized dried areca nuts were of foreign origin was deemed unreliable and unacceptable, as their origin could not be conclusively determined by mere visual inspecti.........