Nanayakkara Egodage Sunil & Herath Wijekoon Mudiyanselage Abeysinghe Vs. Hon. Attorney General – CA 201-202/2005-2005

In the case between Nanayakkara Egodage Sunil & Herath Wijekoon Mudiyanselage Abeysinghe (Accused-Appellants) and the Hon. Attorney General (Respondent), the court examined whether conviction under Section 355 of the Penal Code for abduction was possible when the victim was already in unlawful custody. The court held that Section 355 does not require the victim to be free or for the legality of the prior custody to be considered, and upheld the appellants’ convictions based on clear identification and adverse inference from silence regarding the victim’s disappearance. The legal principle reaffirmed is that abduction under Section 355 applies regardless of the victim’s custodial status and that unexplained removal of a person in custody permits adverse inferences. This determination relied