The Supreme Court has ruled that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act's bail bar cannot be applied mechanically, emphasizing that courts must scrutinize each case carefully before denying relief.
A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that the statutory bar in Section 18 of the SC/ST Act should not be applied routinely or automatically, and the nature of allegations in the FIR and supporting materials on record must be examined.
The order is significant in cases where allegations under the Atrocities Act are coupled with general criminal law offenses, particularly in disputes arising from personal relationships.
The Supreme Court emphasized that courts are duty-bound to assess whether allegations genuinely attract the rigors of the statute and that the provision does not completely oust judicial scrutiny.
