Wijesiri, R.P. v. Attorney General – sllr 1980 volume 2 page 317

In R. R. Wijesiri v. The Attorney‑General, the court addressed whether proceedings under Section 480 of the Penal Code could be validly instituted in the High Court via direct indictment from the Attorney‑General without adherence to the preliminary inquiry and procedural safeguards mandated by the Code of Criminal Procedure. It was held that such direct institution was not legally permissible and the requisite statutory steps—including a complaint with prior sanction before the Magistrate’s Court and a proper investigation under Chapter XI—were mandatory. The judgment reaffirmed the principle that criminal proceedings for certain offences must originate in the Magistrate’s Court with strict compliance to prescribed procedure, emphasizing that the Attorney‑General’s powers are limited by s