diff --git a/src/api/c/binary.cpp b/src/api/c/binary.cpp
index 1a2890f85b..f2263bf579 100644
--- a/src/api/c/binary.cpp
+++ b/src/api/c/binary.cpp
@@ -164,7 +164,13 @@ static af_err af_arith_sparse_dense(af_array *out, const af_array lhs,
                                     const bool reverse = false) {
     try {
         const common::SparseArrayBase linfo = getSparseArrayBase(lhs);
-        const ArrayInfo &rinfo              = getInfo(rhs);
+        if (linfo.ndims() > 2) {
+            AF_ERROR(
+                "Sparse-Dense arithmetic operations cannot be used in batch "
+                "mode",
+                AF_ERR_BATCH);
+        }
+        const ArrayInfo &rinfo = getInfo(rhs);
 
         const af_dtype otype = implicit(linfo.getType(), rinfo.getType());
         af_array res;