ORDER

1. Criminal Petition No.5031/2023 is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C ., Criminal Appeal No.1230/2023 is filed under Section 14(A)(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereina fter referred to as 'Atrocities Act' for short), challenging the order dated 31.01.2023 in Crl.Misc.No.1394/2022. The petitioner in Crl.P.No .5031/2023 and the appellant in Crl.A.No.1230/2023 is the same person (he is referred to accused No.1 for the sake of convenience). He filed two criminal miscellaneous petitions 1394/2022 and 1395/2022 under Section 439 of Cr.P .C., before the II Additional District and Sessions Judge and Special Court, Chitradurga, seeking bail and as they were dismissed, he has approached this court. As two cases arise out of FIR No.387/2022 registered by Rural Police Station , Chitradurga, they are disposed of by a common order.

2. The prosecution case, stated briefly, is as follows:

Two girls, A and B were inmates of Akkamahadevi Hostel run by Murugharajendra Mutt, Chitradurga when they were students of a high school. On 24.07.2022, A and B left the hostel around 04.30pm and reached Bengaluru around 10.00pm. An auto rickshaw driver