Aluth Hewage Dinusha Thamali vs. The Headquarters Inspector, Police Station, Negombo – CA BAIL 0109/2023-2023

In the case between Aluth Hewage Dinusha Thamali (petitioner) and the Headquarters Inspector, Police Station (Negombo) and the Attorney General’s Department, Colombo-12 (respondents), the court addressed whether exceptional circumstances warranted the granting of bail under Section 83(2) of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (as amended by Act No. 41 of 2022). The holding established that the seriousness of the offence, the existence of a commercial quantity of heroin (38.75 grams), and the attendant risk of absconding outweighed the exceptional circumstances advanced by the petitioner, resulting in the dismissal of the bail application. The principle reaffirmed was that, under the amended ordinance, bail should be granted only in strictly exceptional scenarios, particularly