Rasaiya Amarthalingam v. Hon. Attorney General – CA NO. 96/2013-2015

In Rasaiya Amarthalingam v. Hon. Attorney General, Sri Lanka, the court addressed the issue of whether sufficient evidence existed to justify treating the accused-appellant as absconding, thereby permitting the continuation of criminal proceedings in his absence under Section 241 of the Criminal Procedure Code. It was held that the evidence presented, including the testimony of the Gramaseva Niladari, was inadequate to conclusively establish that the accused-appellant was absconding, as the testimony lacked specificity regarding the timing of visits and corroborative statements from key witnesses such as the accused’s mother and police officers were not obtained. The court determined that the High Court Judge’s reliance on insufficient evidence rendered the conviction and sentence invalid.