The Allahabad High Court in the case Parvez Ahmad And 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another observed and refused to quash the criminal case against a government teacher and a madrasa teacher from whose alleged possession cow meat (beef) and 16 live cattle were recovered.
The bench comprising of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal observed that the First Information Report (FIR) that prima facie cognizable offence is made out against the applicants and thus, no case was made out against them, to quash the case.
Facts of the Case:
In the present matter, the court was dealing with the 482 CrPC plea filed by 4 applicants booked under Sections 153- A, Section 420, Section 429, Section 188, Section 269, Section 270, Section 273 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and section 3/5/8 of Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955 and section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1979 and section 7/8 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, plea seeking to quash the case.
An Assistant teacher, Applicant no. 1 in the education department of the State. As Assistant Teacher, the applicant no. 2 is also working in the Madrasa Darul Ulum Gausia Kasba Salempur. A medical shop is run by the applicant no. 3 and applicant no. 4 is Hafiz Quran.
It was observed that their submission that a report from the Forensic Investigation Laboratory had received did not disclose that the sample sent for analysis was of the cow. Their case was case that no case under the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act was made out.
It was argued by the State counsel that the FIR is a detailed report, the FIR which categorically mentioned that out of 16 live cattle stock which included 7 buffaloes, 1 cow, 2 female buffalo’s calf, 5 male buffalo’s calf, and one male cow-calf.
It was further argued by the state that it was wrong to say that the FSL report gave a clean chit to the applicants. Moreover, as 16 cattle were found in the possession of the applicants and other co-accused and they were not having any license to run the slaughterhouse.
Court Analysis:
The argument of the Applicant was discarded by the Court on the ground that no offence was made out from the reading of the First Information Report. It was underscored by the court that even though the FSL report had revealed that the sample which was sent for chemical analysis was not cow meat, but from the custody of the applicants and another co-accused, 16 live cattle were also recovered.
The court observing that defence regarding the FSL report shall be considered by the trial court as such defence set up in the present application cannot be considered at this stage by this Court, at the stage of quashing of the charge sheet
Accordingly, the case was dismissed.