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Shri Chatrapati Shivaji Gaushala vs State of Maharashtra and Others

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 1045Decided 30 Sept 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 1719 of 2022
Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud · Hima Kohli

Background

Police intercepted a truck illegally transporting eighteen cattle (fifteen bullocks and three buffaloes) without proper permits, and an FIR was registered under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Both the appellant, a gaushala (cattle shelter) willing to keep the animals, and the private respondents claiming ownership of the cattle sought interim custody. The trial magistrate gave custody to the gaushala, but on revision the Sessions Judge and then the Bombay High Court gave custody to the private owners instead, relying on a precedent about a magistrate's general discretion under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the lower courts wrongly applied the general discretionary rule from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, when the applicable and more specific provision was the proviso to Section 8(3) of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act. That proviso specifically mandates that cattle seized under the anti-slaughter/transport provisions must, pending trial, be handed to the nearest goshala or similar animal welfare organisation willing to accept custody, not returned to the owner facing prosecution. Since the High Court itself had found prima facie that the cattle were being transported cruelly (18 animals crammed into one vehicle, violating the permitted limit of six), and the gaushala was willing to take custody, the Court held the trial magistrate's original order handing the cattle to the gaushala was correct and the High Court's contrary order had to be set aside. The Court also directed that such trials be concluded expeditiously, within six months generally, and within three months in this case, since two of the seized cattle had already died in custody during the years of litigation.

Lesson Learnt

Where a specific animal-protection statute (like Maharashtra's cattle preservation law) contains its own explicit rule on interim custody of seized animals, that specific provision overrides a more general discretionary rule from another animal welfare law; and courts should ensure such trials are concluded quickly so seized animals are not left in indefinite limbo.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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