Singharam Thiyagarajah vs. Hon. Attorney General – CA 216/2010-2010

In the case between Singharam Thiyagarajah (Accused-Appellant) and the Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department (Complainant-Respondent), the court addressed whether the Accused-Appellant, acting as a Grama Sevaka, solicited and accepted a bribe of Rs. 10,000 from the complainant, invoking Section 19(c) of the Bribery Act. The court determined that the prosecution’s evidence was deficient and the narrative improbable, with key procedural failures occurring during the adoption of proceedings by a judge who had not heard the entirety of the case, breaching safeguards prescribed by Section 48 of the Judicature Act and fair trial guarantees under Article 13 of the Constitution. Conviction and sentence were set aside, and an acquittal was entered, reaffirming the principle that proc