Court orders handing of sick chickens to veterinary centre

Additional Sessions Judge Madhu Jain ordered handing over the chickens to the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre here, setting aside a magisterial court order restoring the custody of the birds, caught while being ferried in unhealthy and unhygienic state, to the poultry owner Pala Ram.

The veterinary centre, in its plea, had challenged the magisterial court's order on basis of medical certificates showing the chickens to be suffering from various ailments.

The centre had argued that during transportation, the birds were overstuffed in the small cages due to which some died and many got dehydrated and became sick and unfit for consumption.

"The owner of the chicks naturally will not keep 15,000 poultry for his personal use and he will definitely sell it in the market without caring for the fact that they are not good for human consumption and it will further aggravate the situation and may also lead to spread of many diseases in the society," Jain said.

The birds were seized by Delhi police on June 1 while being transported from Panipat to Agra in trucks laden with small cages. The police had booked the transporter under the provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Delhi Police Act.

A magisterial court had directed release of the birds to the owner Pala Ram the same evening, but the sessions court set aside this order.