Kuttappan Velayuthamand others Vs. The Hon. Attorney General – CA 106-108/2017-2020

In the case between The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (represented by the Hon. Attorney General) and Kuttappan Velayutham, Velayutham Dinesh Kumar, and Velayutham Manoraj, the court addressed whether convictions for murder and causing grievous hurt could be sustained given discrepancies in the date of the offence and alleged procedural irregularities. It was held that the convictions could not stand due to the prosecution’s failure to prove the offence as charged and unrectified errors within the indictment, including an unamended date of the alleged offence. The decision reaffirmed the principle that an accused cannot be convicted when material particulars in the charge remain unproven and when prosecutorial negligence results in substantial injustice. The judgment relied on