62 oxen saved from slaughtering, court stays release to owners

Sixty two bovines have been saved from landing in a slaughter house as a Delhi Court stayed their release to owners from an animal shelter home where they have been kept after being rescued from four trucks.

Additional Sessions Judge Shail Jain stayed the order of a magisterial court which had ordered release of the cattle to their owners and observed there was serious allegation of committing cruelty against the oxen.

"The judgement titled.... is latest judgement of the Supreme Court, hence needs to be applied to the given facts, coupled with the fact that there are serious allegations of committing cruelty against 62 oxen which were recovered in bad conditions while being transported to Rajasthan for slaughtering.

Therefore, in the light of the above discussion, I am of the opinion that it is a fit case where the impugned order passed by the trial court is to be stayed till further orders.

"The order dated March 14, 2014 is stayed if the oxen had not already been released on superdari, in view of the order dated March 14, 2014," the sessions judge said.

The order of the CMM was challenged by NGO, People for Animals, which had lodged an FIR on the basis of an information regarding transportation of 64 cattle, out of which two died, and had got impounded four trucks packed with the oxen. The animals were recently rescued in Delhi when they were being taken to Rajasthan.

The revision petition, filed through advocate S D Windlesh, sought setting aside the order of the trial court saying the CMM's decision was "unreasoned" and it erred in coming to the conclusion that the owners can provide better care than the Gosadan (cow shelters) in this case where they had been "most inhuman with these oxen and had left nothing to keep them alive and it was the mercy of the Almighty that they were found alive in these circumstances".

The sessions court has called for the record of the chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) who had passed the order of releasing the cattles and also issued a notice to the owners of the oxen.

The investigating officer of the case was also directed to submit a detail report in respect to the presence of oxen in Gosadan in Bawana here.

The court also noted that the CMM has not mentioned in its order whether it was the first involvement of the accused owners in this case and also the conditions in which the oxen were being transported or treated.

In the revision petition, the NGO alleged the trial court has failed to appreciate the gravity of the offence committed by the owners against the 64 oxen while transporting them.

"No owner, who has purchased 64 oxen for their use, will be so inhuman or cruel to them while transporting them. That can be only one--for slaughtering purpose only," it said, adding they had not followed the rules for transportation of animals.

The petition also said there was no veterinary certificate to the effect that these oxen were free from all diseases and fit for transportation and not a single veterinary doctor was present in any of the four trucks to take care of the cattle.

"The CMM has erred in not appreciating the real motives of the respondents/accused regarding disposal of these oxen and these oxen, which have been saved from the clutches of death with great difficulty, will be again set free for slaughtering unless strict safeguards are kept to rule out any mishap in future," it alleged.