JUDGMENT :

V.G. ARUN, J.

1. The appellant is the first accused in Crime No. 899 of 2023 of Elamakkara Police Station, registered for offences punishable under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Amendment 2015) and Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act.

2. The crime is registered on the allegation that the appellant had intentionally humiliated the second respondent by making false allegations and accusations through a video uploaded in the appellant's online news channel “Marunadan Malayali” on 24.05.2023. The appellant's application for pre-arrest bail was dismissed by the Special Court as per Annxure A4 order, finding that publication of the video containing derisive and derogatory comments, is sufficient to attract the alleged offences and hence, the bar under Section 18 of the SC/ST (PoA) Act would apply.

3. Senior Advocate P.Vijaya Bhanu appearing for the appellant put forth the following arguments:

The second respondent is an elected MLA and hence, his actions are open to criticism. In the video, the appellant had only criticized certain actions of the second respondent. Even if the second respondent fe