Hatharasinghe Arachchige Uditha vs. The Officer-in-Charge, Vice Prevention Unit, Police Station, Matara – CA BAL/418/2023-2024

In the case between Allagoda Gamage Madura Manaranjana (Petitioner on behalf of the suspect) and the Officer-in-Charge, Vice Prevention Unit, Matara Police Station, as well as the Hon. Attorney General (Respondents), the court addressed whether bail under section 83(2) of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act No.41 of 2022 should be granted based on claims of procedural delay and personal hardship as “exceptional circumstances.” It was held that neither the delay in indictment nor personal hardships constitute exceptional circumstances sufficient to satisfy the statutory threshold for bail. The principle reaffirmed is that “exceptional circumstances” under the relevant statutory provision must be truly extraordinary and not of the kind present in this case. Reliance was pl