2. Amendment of section 185 of Act…

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 185 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

Act, No. 15 of 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the

“principal enactment”) is hereby amended as follows: -

(1)

by the renumbering of that section as subsection (1) of that section; and

(2)

by the addition immediately after the renumbered subsection (1), of the following new subsections: -

“(2) At the time of passing the sentence, the

Magistrate may, after considering all relevant facts take into cognizance the time spent by such accused in custody prior to the conviction of the offence he is convicted of, and in such cases the time so spent in custody shall be considered to be part of his sentence:

Provided that, where the time spent by such accused in custody is not considered to be part of his sentence, the Magistrate shall record reasons therefor:

Provided further, the time so spent in custody by the accused prior to the conviction shall not be taken into consideration where a mandatory minimum sentence is stipulated by law in respect the offence the accused is charged with.

(3)

For the purpose of this section, “custody”

means the time spent in remand custody.”.

Read on from s 3