IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA In the matter of an Application for Revision under and in terms of Article 138 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Court of Appeal No: Mannage Oshan Dharshana Wijesiri CA/CPA/0057/2023 ‘Wijaya Niwasa’, Konkarahena, Kirama.

High Court Gampaha PETITIONER Bail Case No. HCBA 190/23 Vs.

Magistrate’s Court Mahara Case No. B 4045/22 1. Mannage Dilshan Harshana Wijesiri

2. The Officer in Charge, Criminal Investigations Department, Colombo 01.

3. The Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12.

RESPONDENTS AND NOW BETWEEN Mannage Oshan Dharshana Wijesiri, ‘Wijaya Niwasa’, Konkarahena, Kirama.

PETITIONER-PETITIONER Mannage Dilshan Harshana Wijesiri SUSPECT-RESPONDENT Vs.

1. The Officer in Charge Criminal Investigations Department, Colombo 01.

2. The Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12.

RESPONDENT-RESPONDENTS Before : Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

: P. Kumararatnam, J.

Counsel : Saliya Peiris, P.C. for the Petitioner : Jehan Gunasekera, S.C. for the Respondent Inquiry on : 27-07-2023 Order on : 27-10-2023 Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

This is an application by the petitioner-petitioner (hereinafter referred to as the petitioner) invoking the revisionary jurisdiction of this Court granted in terms of Article 138 of The Constitution.

The petitioner has filed an application for bail before the High Court of Gampaha seeking bail for his brother, namely, Mannage Oshan Dharshana Wijesiri who is a suspect named in the Magistrate’s Court of Mahara Case No. B 4045-22.

The Officer In Charge (OIC) of Public Complaints Division of the Criminal Investigation Department has reported facts to the learned Magistrate of Mahara of a complaint received on 09-11-2022 of illegally detaining, assaulting and threatening several students of the Kelaniya University by a group of other students informing that the actions of those offending students are offences in terms of section 140, 314, 316, 434, 486 read with section 32 and 146 of the Penal Code, and in terms of section 3, 4 and 5 of Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act No. 20 of 1998.

The suspect had been named as one of the perpetrators of the said crimes. On 09-01-2023, the said OIC has filed a further report informing the Court that the suspect along with another suspect required in relation to this complaint has been arrested while engaging in another act on 03-01-2023 and remanded by Kaduwela Magistrate’s Court for an identification parade. He has requested the Court for a direction that the two suspects to be produced in this case.

The suspect is in remand custody since. The petitioner who is the brother of the suspect has filed the bail application which led to the impugned order by the High Court of the Western Province Holden in Gampaha as bail can only be granted for a suspect remanded in terms of the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act No. 20 of 1998 by the relevant High Court.

After hearing the learned Counsel for the petitioner as well as the objections raised by the learned State Counsel on behalf of the respondents named, the learned High Court Judge of the High Court of the Western Province Holden in Gampaha has refused the said bail application by his order dated 18-05-2023.

For matters of clarity, I would now reproduce the relevant order of refusal which reads;

“මෙෙ සැකකරුව අත්අඩංගුවට මෙන ඇත්මත් ⷁᮅොණවත් කරුණු තිබියදීය. එමේෙ මවනත් වරදකට ඇප ෙත සිටියදී මෙෙ වරදට අත්අඩංගුවට මෙන ඇත. එවැනි විමටක මකමේ මවතත් අධිකරණයක් ඇප ලබා දීෙට පියවර මනාෙනී. විශ්වවිදයාලමේ විභාෙයක් පවතින බව දැනදැනෙ රක්ෂණ බන්ධනාොරෙත විය හැකි ᮅ㭹යාවන්ි මයදුනු තැනැත්මතකුට එි ⷁᮅතිඵලය තො විසින්ෙ වින්දදරාෙැනීෙට සිදු මේ. විශ්වවිදයාල ශිෂයන්ට එෙ කරුණ මත්රුම් මනාෙැනීෙට මේතු තිබිය මනාහැක. ඉදිරිපත් වී ඇති කරුණු වලට අනුව සැකකරු විසින් කර ඇත්මත් සරල වරදක් මනාව ඉතා ⷁᮅබල වරදකි. එෙ ඉදිරිපත් වූ කරුණු වලට අනුව මෙෙ අවේථාමේ ඇප ලබාදුනමහාත් මෙෙ