HC refuses to quash case against two teachers for cow slaughter, beef sale

The court said that the First Information Report (FIR) said that prima facie cognizable offence was made out against the applicants and thus, there was no reason to quash the case against them.

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Monday refused to quash a criminal case against a government teacher and a madarsa teacher allegedly from whose possession cow meat (beef) and 16 live cattle were recovered.

The petitioners’ plea was that a report from the forensic laboratory did not disclose that the sample sent for analysis was of cow and therefore no case under the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act was made out. (Pic for representation)

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal dismissed the petition filed by Parvez Ahmed and three others challenging the criminal case pending before CJM, Mau.

The court said that the First Information Report (FIR) said that prima facie cognizable offence was made out against the applicants and thus, there was no reason to quash the case against them.

Applicant no. 1 was an assistant teacher in the education department of the state, while applicant no. 2 was working as assistant teacher in Madarsa Darul Ulum Gausia Kasba Salempur, while applicant no. 3 was running a medical shop and applicant no. 4 was Hafiz Quran.

The applicants were booked for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc and under section 3/5/8 of Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955 for cow slaughter and sale of beef.

The petitioners’ plea was that a report from the forensic laboratory did not disclose that the sample sent for analysis was of cow and therefore no case under the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act was made out.

On the other hand, the state counsel argued that the FIR categorically mentioned that the 16 live cattle stock recovered from the petitioners included 7 buffaloes, 1 cow, 2 female buffalo calves, 5 male buffalo calves and one male cow calf.

Thus, it was argued by the state that it was wrong to say that the FSL report gave a clean chit to the applicants, as 16 cattle were found in the possession of the applicants and other co-accused and they did not have any license to run the slaughterhouse.

After hearing the concerned parties, the court said that even though the FSL report had revealed that the sample which was sent for chemical analysis was not cow meat, 16 live cattle were also recovered from the custody of the applicants and other co-accused.