JUDGMENT

This is an appeal filed by the accused in crime no.1027/2024, Peermade Police Station aggrieved by the order dated 02/12/2024 in Crl.M.C.No.968/2024 on the file of the Court of Special Judge for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Thodupuzha, by which his application for pre-arrest bail has been dismissed.

2. The prosecution case is that on 02/07/2022 the petitioner/accused on promise of marriage had sexual intercourse with the informant/victim with the knowledge that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste Community and thereafter threatened her not to disclose the matter to others and thereby he is alleged to have committed the offences punishable under Sections 376 , 506 IPC and Sections 3(1)(w)(i) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (the Act). The application was dismissed by the trial court finding that the bar under Section 18 of the Act is attracted.

3. The learned counsel for the appellant draws my attention to the FIS of the victim that has been produced as additional document along with Crl.M.A.No.1/2024. He takes me through the imputations made in FIS based on which he su