Weerasinghe Arachchilage Deepa Nandani vs Officer-in-Charge Police Station Marawila – CA PHC APN 134/20-2021

In the case between Weerasinghe Arachchilage Deepa Nandani (petitioner, wife of the suspect) and the Officer-in-Charge, Police Station, Marawila, and the Hon. Attorney General, the core issue addressed was whether the petitioner had locus standi to seek revisionary bail for her husband, the accused in a heroin possession case, and whether exceptional circumstances justified the exercise of revisionary jurisdiction to set aside the High Court’s refusal of bail. It was held that the petitioner, as the suspect’s wife, had standing to file the revision application, and the Court of Appeal possessed discretion to entertain such revisionary relief. The collective circumstances—procedural delay, the suspect’s family responsibilities, absence of prior convictions, and the quantum of drugs seized—w