Nagpur Bench quashes FIR
Possession of a dead animal’s skin will not amount to an offence under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act (MAPA), 1976, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has said while quashing an FIR against a man for possession of skins of dead cows.
The MAPA prohibits slaughter, purchase, sale, import, export and possession of beef. A Division Bench of Justices V.M. Deshpande and A.S. Kilor passed the order on December 14 while hearing a petition filed by Shafiqullaha Khan Ashfaqullha Khan seeking to quash a July 2018 case registered against him under provisions of the MAPA for alleged possession of 187 skins of cows in a van he was driving.