Gunawardena v. Officer In Charge, Kahawatta Police – sllr 1987 volume 1 page 125

In the case between Gunawardena (Plaintiff) and Officer-in-Charge, Kahawatta Police (Defendant), the court addressed the propriety of the procedure adopted by the Magistrate in charging the appellant with contempt of court under section 388 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act. It was held that the failure to distinctly state the offence charged and to provide the appellant with an opportunity to answer constituted a procedural defect. The conviction and sentence imposed were set aside, with the case remitted for a fresh trial. The principle reaffirmed is the necessity of affording an accused explicit notice of the charge and a fair opportunity to be heard, in conformity with established legal precedents and requirements of procedural fairness.

P. R. P. Perera J. — The proceedings were