Nalin Chathuranga Wickramasinghe Vs Officer In Charge Police Narcotics Bureau – CA CPA 0099/2020-2021

In the matter of Nalin Chathuranga Wickramasinghe (on behalf of Lumin Chandula Wickramasinghe) v. Officer in Charge, Police Narcotics Bureau, and others, the court addressed the issue of whether “exceptional circumstances” justified the grant of bail to an accused charged under Sections 54A and 54B of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, and whether a revision application was maintainable after the High Court had refused bail. It was held that neither prolonged custody, lack of previous convictions, nor discrepancies in the analyst’s report constituted exceptional circumstances warranting bail, reaffirming the restrictive principle that bail in serious drug-related offenses is available only in truly exceptional situations as per the statute. Reliance was placed on the express