1. The appellant is the sole accused in Crime No.2173 of 2016 of the Sasthamcotta Police Station registered alleging offence punishable under Sections 354, 354A, 376 of the IPC and Section 3(r), (s) and (w) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Act 33 of 1989 for brevity).

2. Faced with imminent arrest and detention, the appellant approached the Court of Session, Kollam, which is the Special Court designated for trial of cases under the Act 33 of 1989, and moved an application seeking pre-arrest bail. The said application was dismissed outright holding that the Special Court had no jurisdiction to entertain an application under section 438 of the Act as the offence involved was one under section 3 of the Act.

3. The said order is challenged in appeal filed under section 14A(2) of the Act.

4. Heard Sri S. Sreekumar, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant as well as Sri E.C. Bineesh, the learned Public Prosecutor.

5. The learned Senior Counsel argued that the learned Sessions Judge was at error in rejecting the application outright without making an endeavor to ascertain whether the ingredients of the offence was prim