Marasinghe Arachchilage Karunaratne and Wanasinghe Arachchilage Ranjith Wickremaratne vs The Attorney General – CA 18/2009-2013

In the case between Marasinghe Arachchilage Karunaratne and Wanasinghe Arachchilage Ranjith Wickremaratne (Accused-Appellants) and the Attorney General (Respondent), the court addressed the issue of whether convictions for gang rape under section 364(2)(g) of the Penal Code were supported by reliable and sufficient identification evidence. The court held that, given the circumstances of identification—faces covered, primary reliance on voice recognition without prior familiarity, and lack of corroborative evidence—the identification was unreliable and the convictions unsafe to uphold. This decision reaffirmed the principle that criminal convictions must rest on evidence establishing guilt beyond reasonable doubt, particularly where identification is concerned. The findings relied on establ