Beef ban: Bombay high court strikes down prosecution of animal skin dealer

Last year, officers raided Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Kareem’s godown and booked him under Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995

Stopping an apparent misuse of the beef ban law, the Bombay high court has struck down criminal proceedings initiated against a Nagpur-based hide and skin dealer, who was booked under provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995.

HT File Photo

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Kareem, 62, is a Chindwara Road resident and a registered dealer of the hide and skin of dead animals.

He owns a business called Baba Traders. On November 25, 2016, officers attached to Jaripatka police station raided his godown. On finding 4,200 hides and skins and 1,500 tins of processed fat, they booked him under section 9 and 11 of the Act.

Police also seized a truck parked in front of his godown. Kareem approached the high court seeking that the first information report registered against him be quashed, saying that he could not be prosecuted under the act as he had not been involved in any cow slaughtering.

“Looking at the first information report makes it clear that the applicant has not committed any offence with regard to the slaughtering of animals,” said a division bench of justices Anoop Mohta and MG Giratkar.

“The hide and skin business is not prohibited under this Act,” it added.

The high court thus accepted Kareem’s plea.