Badde Liyanage Wasantha Kumara Fernando v. The Hon. Attorney General – CA PHC APN: 133/2016-2016

In the case between Badde Liyanage Wasantha Kumara Fernando (Petitioner/Accused) and The Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department (Respondent/Complainant), the court addressed whether the 15-year sentence for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, entered upon a plea of guilty due to grave and sudden provocation, was appropriate. The court also considered whether revisionary jurisdiction could be invoked absent exhaustion of the statutory right of appeal and whether exceptional delay and the petitioner’s remorse justified a reduction in sentence. It was held that the circumstances—including the absence of premeditation, the provocation, genuine remorse, and undue delay—justified reducing the sentence to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment. The principle was reaffirmed that comp