After an arrest, Article 13 of the Constitution requires that the person be told the reason and brought before the nearest court, within 24 hours excluding travel time where no warrant was used. The court then decides bail, which the Bail Act makes the rule.
An arrest is one of the few moments when ordinary people come face to face with the machinery of the criminal law, usually with no warning and little idea of what is supposed to happen next. Knowing the basic rules helps, both for the person arrested and for the family trying to help them.
How an arrest happens
Arrest procedure in Sri Lanka is governed mainly by the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979. The police can arrest with a warrant issued by a court, and for certain offences, described as cognizable offences, they can arrest without a warrant. The category of offence therefore matters a great deal, because it decides whether the police needed a court's authority before acting.
Your rights under Article 13 of the Constitution
Whatever the basis for the arrest, the Constitution sets limits. Article 13 provides that no one may be arrested except according to procedure established by law, and that a person who is arrested must be informed of the reason for the arrest. It also requires that anyone taken into custody be brought before the judge of the nearest competent court, and not held further except on that judge's order.
The 24-hour rule
Time is part of this protection. A person arrested without a warrant cannot be detained for more than 24 hours before being produced before a magistrate, leaving aside the time reasonably needed to travel to the court. The magistrate can extend detention for further investigation, but the point is that continued detention depends on judicial authority, not on the say-so of the police alone.
Getting bail: the rule and the exceptions
Once a person is before the court, the question becomes bail. The Bail Act No. 30 of 1997 sets the tone in a single guiding principle: granting bail is the rule, and refusing it is the exception. For most offences that means release on suitable conditions while the case runs its course, because a person is presumed innocent until convicted. Release is the ordinary path, though the court still decides in each case.
That principle is not unlimited. The Act treats offences differently, and for serious matters such as murder and certain drug offences bail is not automatic. It becomes a matter for the discretion of the court, and in some cases can be granted only by a higher court such as the High Court or the Court of Appeal rather than the magistrate. Some special statutes, such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, fall outside the ordinary bail regime altogether.
Drug cases are the clearest illustration, and the position has moved twice. Section 83 of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was substituted by Act No. 41 of 2022 and amended again by Act No. 7 of 2026, which added the new Section 54AA offence committed on the high seas. As it now stands, a person suspected or accused under Sections 54A, 54AA or 54B may be granted bail by the High Court only in exceptional circumstances. Where the pure quantity of morphine, cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine is ten grammes or above, as certified by the Government Analyst, and the offence carries death or life imprisonment, only the Court of Appeal may grant bail. Below that threshold the High Court retains the power. This is why, in a serious drug case, the first question is often which court can even hear the application.
In practice, bail applications turn on familiar concerns: whether the accused is likely to attend court, whether they might interfere with witnesses or evidence, and the seriousness of the alleged offence. Conditions such as sureties, reporting to a police station, or surrender of a passport are common ways of addressing those concerns while still allowing release.
