ORDER :

The applicants have approached this Court for anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.PC. The offence alleged, among others, is also an offence under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act ['Act', for short]. The applicants had earlier approached the jurisdictional court for anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.PC and the same was dismissed vide order dated 8.2.2021 in Crl.MP No.69/2021. The applicants have preferred this bail application disregarding the embargo under Section 14A of the Act. The Registry has raised an objection regarding maintainability.

2. The matter is well settled. This Court has in Ajay D Krishnan v. State of Kerala and Another [2017(1) KHC 412] held that only the Special Court or the Exclusive Special Court constituted under S.14 of the Act can have jurisdiction to entertain an application for Bail with respect to offences committed under Act 33 of 1989. The power of the Court of Session and of the High Court in its original criminal jurisdiction to entertain an application under S.438 or S.439 of the Code has been impliedly taken away by S.14A of the said Act. The power of the High Court in the matter is only appellate juri