HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 8406 of 2025 Court No. - 83 HON'BLE SHEKHAR KUMAR YADAV, J. 1. The instant appeal has been filed under Section 14A (2) of SC/ ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on behalf of the appellant, apprehending his arrest in connection with Case Crime No. 38 of 2021 (S.S.T. No. 1164 of 2021, under Sections 420, 506, 323, 504 IPC and Sections 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the order dated 31.07.2025 passed by the learned Special Judge Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, District Saharanpur whereby, the anticipatory bail application preferred by the appellant was rejected. 2. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the appellant is innocent and has falsely been implicated in this case. The FIR of the alleged incident has been lodged with the delay of two years and there is no explanation of the delay in lodging the FIR which creates doubt on the prosecution case. 3. Learned A.G.A. submits that the instant appeal has been preferred aggrieved of the rejection of anticipatory bail application. He further submits that by virtue of Section 18 of SC/ST Act, anticipatory bail application is not maintainable in case offence under Section SC/ST act is involved. It is further alleged that the informant was abused by caste indicative words, assaulted and threatened by the appellant and other co accused persons. 4. In the case of Prathvi Raj Chauhan Vs Union of India, reported in 2 SCC Online SC 159, the Hon'ble Apex Court has clearly evinced that only in those cases where the prima facie case is not made out, the rigour of Section 18 & 18-A of the SC/ST Act can be eschewed. In view of that, the matter has been pondered. As per the FIR and the material collected during investigation, at this stage, this Court is of the considered opinion that there Versus Counsel for Appellant(s) : Ashok Kumar Singh Bais Counsel for Respondent(s) : G.A. Arif .....Appellant(s) State of U.P. and Another .....Respondent(s) is no reasonable ground to reach at the conclusion that no prima facie case against the appellant is made out. The impugned order passed by the court below is well in conformity in law and does not suffer from error of illegality, irregularity and warrant any interference by this Court. 5. Accordingly, the instant appeal is dismissed. September 25, 2025 A. CRLA No. 8406 of 2025 2 (Shekhar Kumar Yadav,J.) Digitally signed by :- AFAQ AHMAD High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Digitally signed by :- AFAQ AHMAD High Court of Judicature at Allahabad