Paluwatta Muhandiramge Mahinda v. The Hon. Attorney General – CA HCC 0025/2015-2021

In the case between The Hon. Attorney General (representing the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) and Paluwatta Muhandiramge Mahinda, the court addressed the issue of whether the accused-appellant’s conviction for murder, based purely on circumstantial evidence and alleged extra-judicial confessions, was legally sustainable. It was held that the conviction was unsustainable due to significant doubts regarding the reliability of prosecution witnesses, delay and inadequacy in witness statements, and unsafe evaluation of both the alleged confession and the recovery of material evidence. The holding reaffirmed the principle that a conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence in a criminal case must exclude any reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence. Reliance was placed