Abdul Razak and Another v. Dharmadasa, Chief Inspector of Police, Katugastota and Others – sllr 1999 volume 1 page 128

Brief
In Abdul Razak and Another v. Dharmadasa, Chief Inspector of Police, Katugastota and others, the court addressed whether the arrest and detention of the petitioners, executed without a warrant and founded on a ‘B’ report alleging offences under sections 332, 480, and 484 of the Penal Code, constituted a violation of fundamental rights under Articles 13(1) and 13(2) of the Constitution. It was held that the arrest and detention were unlawful, as the evidentiary basis in the ‘B’ report did not establish a cognizable offence, and the actions of the 1st and 2nd respondents infringed the petitioners’ fundamental rights. The holding reaffirmed the principle that an arrest without warrant must be justified by credible evidence of a cognizable offence. The decision rested on the interpretati