“Reason to believe”

A 'reason to believe' exists when a person has sufficient cause to hold a belief, not merely a suspicion. It applies where law or procedure requires a person's belief before taking action. The consequence is that courts and officials assess the belief by whether reasonable grounds supported it.

Ravi finds his shop's cashbox missing and CCTV shows Arjun leaving with a box. Because Ravi has sufficient cause to believe Arjun took the cashbox, he tells the police this when filing an FIR. That belief counts as 'reason to believe' under the law.