Corea, D.H.R.A. V. The Queen

1954 Present: Gratiaen J. and Fernando A. J.

D. H. R. A. COREA et al., Appellants, and THE QUEEN, Respondent

S. C. 33-35-D. C. (Criminal) Nuwara Eliya, 279
 

Arrest without warrant-Cognizable offence-Duty to inform suspect of the charge against him-Criminal Procedure Code, ss. 23 (1), 32 (1) (b), 35, 53-Penal Code, ss. 69, 333, 348.

A police officer acts illegally in Ceylon (as in England) if he arrests a man without a warrant on a mere ' unexpressed suspicion ' that a particular cognizable offence has been committed-unless ' the circumstances are such that the man must know the general nature of the offence for which he is detained or unless the man ' himself produces the situation which makes it practically impossible to inform him. In such a case the police officer is liable to be convicted under the Penal Code for assault and wrongful confinement.

Held further, that a police constable who bonafide arrests a person on an order wrongly given by his senior officer is in certain circumstances entitled to claim the benefit of the exception to criminal liability set out in section 69 of the Penal Code.

APPEAL from a judgment of

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