VADODARA: A sessions court in Godhra ordered the registration of an FIR against three policemen and two others, including a cow vigilante, for trying to frame two men in a false case of transporting cattle for slaughter.
Additional sessions judge Parvezahemad Malaviya, in his order on Tuesday, acquitted the cattle owner, Ilyas Daval, and Nazir Malek, the driver of the pickup truck, holding that the prosecution could not produce any evidence to show that they were transporting the animals for slaughter.
The court ordered that an FIR be registered against head constables Ramesh Narvatsinh and Sankarsinh Sajjansinh, PSI M S Munia and panch witnesses Margesh Soni and Darshan Soni under Section 248 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for instituting false criminal proceedings.
The court also directed the superintendent of police to initiate departmental proceedings against the policemen. The accused, now acquitted, were at liberty to initiate separate proceedings against the state govt, police officials and witnesses for compensation, it added.
Malek and Daval were accused of transporting a buffalo, a buffalo calf and a jersey cow for slaughter in July 2020. It was alleged that they were tied with short ropes with no arrangements for fodder or water.
An offence was registered under the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Motor Vehicles Act and Gujarat Police Act.
According to the prosecution, the accused were intercepted on the night of July 31, 2020, by two policemen near Vasapur village. They failed to provide documentary evidence to show they bought the cattle legally from Rudan village in Mahemdavad taluka of Kheda district, the FIR said.
Police then called two panch witnesses for the seizure of the animals and the vehicle. The accused denied that they were transporting the milch animals for slaughter.
Daval said he was a farmer with interests in dairying and the cattle trade. He said he even made the policemen speak to the person who had sold him the cattle and the sarpanch of Rudan village, from where the animals were procured.
The court noted that one of the panch witnesses, Margesh Soni, was a "gau rakshak" (cow vigilante) and had acted as a panch witness in many similar cases.
The accused had later made an application in court to have the seized animals released. This application had documents appended supporting the claim that the animals had been bought from Rudan. It also had land revenue and dairy cooperative documents proving the accused was involved in animal husbandry. The court observed that the investigating officer did not investigate the claim of the accused persons regarding the purchase of animals for legal purposes.
"It is thus proved that a totally false complaint was given against the accused persons by the complainant, the panchas who are gaurakshaks, have abetted in said false prosecution by remaining panchas, the other police official also corroborated the said act," the order observed.
The order added, "The investigating officer was required to investigate the crime in a proper and judicious manner, but he did not do so and submitted the chargesheet against the accused persons for offences which were not committed by them nor were they made out."
None of the witnesses deposed that the animals were being taken for slaughter, nor could the investigating officer prove that there was a slaughterhouse nearby or that the accused owned any slaughterhouse, it noted.
The court also observed that the prosecution could not prove that Daval was in the vehicle when the animals were being transported. The market value of the animals, as shown in police records, was very low and no such animal is sold at such a low rate, it added.
The order stated that the bovines should be handed over to Daval within 30 days. If this was not possible, it ordered compensation of Rs 80,000 with 9% interest for Daval.