New Delhi, May 10 -- The Supreme Court has held that there cannot be a mechanical denial of anticipatory bail merely because offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are invoked, underlining that courtsmust carefully scrutinisethe facts and allegations in each case before refusingrelief. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the statutory bar contained in Section 18 of the SC/ST Act cannot be applied in a routine or automatic manner and the nature of allegations in theFIR as well as supporting material on record must be examined. "So far as the bar of Section 18 of the Atrocities Act isconcerned, we may only say that it would all depend on the facts of each case. It would also depend on the nature of the allegations levelled in the FIR and the other materials on record. Section 18 of the Atrocities Act should not be applied mechanically," the bench noted in its order passed earlier this week. The order is likely to have significance in cases where allegations under the actare coupled with offences under general criminal law, particularly in disputes arising out of personal relationships, where courts are often called upon to determine whether the ingredients of caste-based offences are prima facie established before denying liberty to the accused. The ruling came while the top court was dealing with an appeal arising out of a Gujarat high court order of March 2026 refusing pre-arrest bail to a man accused under Section 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the SC/ST Act. The prosecution case stemmed from allegations by a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste community that the accused had entered into a relationship with her on the promise of marriage, established physical relations and later backed out. While rejecting anticipatory bail, the Gujarat high court had observed that although the allegations under the SC/ST act may not prima facie indicate that the relationship failed solely because of caste, the accusations under Section 69 of the BNS appeared serious enough to deny discretionary relief....