JUDGMENT :

“DURALEX SEDLEX” – the law is hard but it is the law.”

In these appeals this Court is called upon to address the impact of legal bar in granting pre-arrest bail in cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 [hereinafter referred to as `the SC/ST Act' for convenience].

2. The defacto complainant in Crime No.483/2022 of Koyilandy Police Station is the appellant in Crl.Appeal No.855/2022 and the respondents herein are State of Kerala as well as the accused in the above crime. The challenge raised in this appeal is against order granting anticipatory bail to the accused, as per order in Crl.M.C.No.1221/2022 dated 2.8.2022 by the learned Special Judge, Kozhikode, under the SC/ST Act.

3. Crl.Appeal No.875/2022 is at the instance of the State of Kerala challenging the same order. In this appeal, the 1st respondent is the accused and 2nd respondent is the defacto complainant.

4. I shall refer the parties in these appeals as `defacto complainant', `accused' and `prosecution', hereinafter for brevity and easy reference.

5. Heard Advocate K.V.Bhadrakumari, the learned counsel for the appellant/defacto complainant in Crl.Appeal No.855/20