‘Bullock cannot be carried on a scooter’: Ahmedabad court directs release of vehicle seized in ‘cow slaughter’ case

Slaughter of cows and its progeny is prohibited under the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act.

The accused are facing the charge of slaughtering one of the two bullocks they bought at the above mentioned place.

Earlier, Shaikh had moved an application before a magisterial court seeking his scooter back. However, the application was rejected. Following this, Shaikh challenged the order by moving a revision application before the Sessions court.

In his application before the Sessions court, Shaikh had contended that the magisterial court’s order was erroneous as the two-wheeler was neither directly nor indirectly used in the alleged offence of cow slaughter and releasing it would not hamper the investigation. The prosecution had opposed the application arguing that the vehicle was used in the offence of illegal slaughtering of the animal.

The Sessions court granted the application while observing, “In the case, the accused face allegations of buying two bullocks and doing cruelty to animals by killing one of them. Naturally, a bullock cannot be carried on a two-wheeler. Moreover, going by the FIR, the animals were not trafficked or transported in the vehicle seized by the investigating officer. In the said case, the two-wheeler was lying at the place of the raid and therefore it has been seized (by police).”

“Thus, since there is no allegation to the effect that animals were transported in the accused’s vehicle in the (alleged) offence, the order passed by the trial court seems erroneous and requires interference,” it added.

The court allowed the application and ordered police to release the vehicle but imposed a number of conditions on the accused including not to sell, gift or mortgage the vehicle. The court also directed him to produce the scooter before the trial court, whenever necessary.