JUDGMENT :

J.J. MUNIR, J.

1. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, is a special Act, enacted for the dedicated purpose of preventing atrocities against members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, making the practice of such atrocities criminal offences punishable under this Act, establishing Special Courts (that includes Exclusive Special Courts) for the trial of such offences, extension of relief and bringing about rehabilitation of victims of offences; of course, with the preamble to the Act, acclaiming to it a facilitative charter with the addition of words “and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.

2. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, is also a special Act, dedicated to the welfare of another special class of citizens: 'children'. This Act also bears a penal character and concerns itself with offences against children, and its preamble ambitiously proclaiming it to be “An Act to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and provide for establishment of Special Courts for trial of such offences and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”. The preamble to this Act is far more elaborate, and, speaks in minute detail about its aspirations. The Court would revert to it at an appropriate stage during the course of this order, as some argument on its basis was advanced by learned counsel, to persuade the Court to answer the question involved here, in one way.

3. Before proceeding further, it would be profitable to determine the abbreviated nomenclature in relation to the principal statutes involved. The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, shall be hereinafter referred to as the 'SC/ST Act'. The SC/ST Act was amended by The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, which is hereinafter referred to as the 'SC/ ST Amendment Act'. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, shall be hereinafter referred to as the 'POCSO Act'.

4. The SC/ST Act and the POCSO Act are both penal statutes and are designed to cater to the needs of two special classes of citizens, both of whom are entitled to protection approved by the Constitution, one stemming from social disabilities and the other innate to human nature and development. The SC/ST Act is founded on the vestiges of an abolished social hierarchy, whereas the POCSO Act gives effect to a constitutional concern of universal application to all citizens irrespective of their class, social, economic or any other, created by human intervention: it addresses childhood. It is this checker board of protection that brings in subject citizens in the common domain of both the Acts, and a fortiori, a conflict of jurisdiction in those matters, where the differential regimes cannot supplement and complement. Speaking in more real terms, the conflict would arise in cases where the victim is a member, say of a scheduled caste, and at the same time, a child.

5. In this bail application, offences under the SC/ST Act and the POCSO Act are both charged against the applicant. The SC/ST Act postulates a trial of offences under the said Act by an Exclusive Special Court to be established by the State Government with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court, by notification in the Official Gazette for one or more districts. In districts where the number of cases under the Act under reference are fewer, the State Government is empowered with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court, by notification in the Official Gazette, to specify for such districts, the Court of Session to be a Special Court. Thus, offences under the SC/ST Act, have to be tried either by a Special Court or an Exclusive Special Court, notified or established under it by virtue of the provisions of Section 14 of the said Act. The SC/ST Act is given overriding effect over a