S.S. Satheesachandran, J.

1. A question of significance has arisen in the above application moved for anticipatory bail under section 438 of Code of Criminal Procedure, for short the Code.

2. Petitioners (A1 and A2), two among the accused in a crime under investigation, have moved the application seeking pre arrest bail. The above crime was registered for various offences under the Penal Code and also for an offence of atrocity punishable under section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,1989, for short the Act. Whether the interdiction imposed under section 18 of the above Act bar the entertaining of present application filed under section 438 of the Code, is the question to be considered and resolved.

3. Petitioners, both of them, are not members of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, and de facto complainant is stated to be a member of scheduled caste. The accused, five in number, naming three of them (A1 to A3) and the rest identifiable by sight, set fire to a shed situate in the property of de facto complainant, after pouring petrol over that structure. Occurrence allegedly took place at 11 p.m on 13.1.2013 is the allegatio