The Allahabad High Court has ruled that no permit is needed to transport cattle within Uttar Pradesh, and that a vehicle cannot be presumed to be carrying cattle for slaughter merely because it was seized in a district bordering another state.
The ruling, reported by UNI on Tuesday, November 3, came from Justice Sandeep Jain. He was hearing a petition filed by Neshar Shah, who was represented by advocate Vipin Kumar Singh, against the seizure of his Mahindra Bolero pickup truck.
The district administration in Mirzapur had ordered the seizure on the assumption that the animals were being taken out of the state for slaughter. The court declared the order completely arbitrary, and held that presuming cow slaughter solely because the vehicle was caught in a border district is legally wrong. The state government was also directed to act on the ruling.
The law behind the judgment is Section 5-A of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955. It requires a permit issued by an authorised officer only when cows or their progeny are moved from Uttar Pradesh to another state.
Transport within the state is not an offence, and no permit is needed. The Allahabad High Court first settled this in 2008, in the case of Kailash Yadav and Others. The court has repeated the position several times since.
In 2021, Justice Mohammad Aslam set aside a Varanasi district magistrate’s order confiscating a vehicle, saying that no permit was needed for movement within the state and that the order was without jurisdiction.
In another case, Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar ordered the release of a truck seized on the allegation of illegal cattle transport, citing the same rule.
Earlier this year, the court also quashed the confiscation of a livelihood vehicle in Chandauli, another border district, found that authorities had acted only on assumptions and ordered nearly Rs 4.75 lakh in compensation to the owner for lost income and harassment.
Cattle transport has long been a source of friction in Uttar Pradesh, where cow slaughter is banned and the law allows police and district officials to seize vehicles and impose heavy penalties.
Muslims and Dalits who work in the cattle and meat trades have often complained that vehicles are seized, and drivers harassed or attacked, on suspicion alone, and that they must go through lengthy proceedings to get their vehicles back.
