Court dismisses habeas corpus plea for ‘lost bull’ that died in November

During the hearing of a petition filed in the Bombay High Court for a lost bull,the court was on Monday informed that the bull had died in November last year. The petitioner,a Byculla resident named Muzammil Ansari,claimed that he had purchased the animal from the Deonar abattoir. The bull was to be sacrificed during Bakri- Eid in November last year. However,the bull later escaped from his custody. Ansari had initially filed a habeas corpus petition,however,later converted it into a criminal petition after the court noted that a habeas corpus petition cannot be filed for production of animals. According to him,after the bull escaped,it was captured by the D B Marg police,which registered a case against unknown persons. He then approached the police seeking custody of the bull but says that the police refused. In his plea,filed through lawyer Feroz Ansari,Ansari had said the police had violated his fundamental right to perform a religious ritual.