Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Karunadasa alias Hinni vs Hon. Attorney General – CA HCC/0109/2022-2023

In the case between The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Attorney General’s Department as Respondent) and Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Karunadasa alias Hinni (Appellant), the court examined whether the failure to specify the exact date of the alleged offence in the indictment contravened section 165 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), ultimately impacting the right to a fair trial. The sequence of events involved a conviction in the High Court of Badulla under section 365B(2) of the Penal Code, with significant discrepancies noted between prosecution witnesses, especially regarding the timeline of the alleged offence, thereby affecting the appellant’s ability to mount an alibi defense. The court held that the prosecution’s failure to state particulars with requisite precision a