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Court stressed that besides the recovery of cow dung and rope, there were only statements of some witnesses who had alleged that they saw the accused persons going towards a sugarcane field along with a calf.
In a cow slaughter case where there had not been recovery of any prohibited animal or its flesh, and only a rope and some amount of cow dung had been recovered from the place of the alleged slaughter, the Allahabad High Court recenlty held it to be a glaring example of misuse of penal law.
The court highlighted that in the present matter, the Investigating Officer had collected remains of cow dung from the spot and sent the same to Forensic Lab for analysis which had been returned by the Lab by stating that Forensic Lab is not meant to analyze the cow dung.
Court also underscored that besides the recovery of cow dung and rope, there were only statements of some witnesses who had claimed to have seen the accused persons going towards the sugarcane field of one Jamil along with a calf.
The bench of Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan said,
"Keeping cows and calf as pet animals is a common practice in the villages irrespective of caste, creed and religion. The duty of State is to ensure fair investigation which in the considered opinion of this Court has not been done in the instant case."
Moreover, court stressed that it seemed that simply on the basis of apprehension and suspicion the First Information Report had been lodged in the present matter and the charge sheet had also been filed.
Therefore, taking note of the fact that the accused namely Jugadi Alias Nijamuddin had no other criminal history, court allowed his plea and granted him pre-arrest bail.
However, before parting with the matter, taking note of the conduct of the investigation officer in the present case, court directed that a copy of the instant order be placed before the D.G.P. of Uttar Pradesh for taking necessary action against the concerned investigation officer.
"...in order to remind the investigating officers of their duty to ensure fair investigation in all the criminal cases in general and in the cases pertaining to cow slaughter in particular," Court said.
The FIR in the present matter was lodged last year in August under Section 3/5/8 of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act at Reusa Police Station in Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh.
Case Title: Jugadi Alias Nijamuddin v. State of UP
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