Fathuma Raseena Cassim vs. The Attorney General – CA BAIL/0088/23-2023

In the case between Fathuma Raseena Cassim (petitioner, wife of the accused Mohammed Saali Mohammed Nihar) and the Attorney General’s Department and the Officer-in-Charge, Galle Harbour Police Station, the court addressed the issue of bail eligibility under Section 83(2) of the amended Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Act, specifically assessing whether exceptional circumstances justified the grant of bail. The findings established that the petitioner’s claims—centered on the prolonged remand period exceeding four years and nine months without substantive legal progress, the quantity of heroin seized, and the adverse socio-economic impact—constituted exceptional circumstances. The statutory interpretation of “exceptional circumstances” was reaffirmed, with reliance on precedents such as