Eight years on, 3 acquitted in cow slaughter case; court finds raid violated law | Mumbai News
3 min readJul 30, 2026 05:18 PM IST
Nearly eight years after three men were booked on allegations of cow slaughter, a magistrate court in Maharashtra’s Alibag cleared them of all charges, noting multiple violations in the police investigation and evidence presented by the prosecution.
Absolving the three men of all charges in the cow slaughter case, the court underlined glaring contradictions in the evidence presented by the prosecution. It also noted that the raid violated provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act.
“…there are material contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses regarding the collection of samples, which create serious doubt about the prosecution case. Moreover, the raid itself was conducted in violation of the mandatory provisions of Section 8 of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2015,” Chief Judicial Magistrate D M Zate said.
The men were cleared of all charges in the cow slaughter case under the Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The 2018 cow slaughter case
On July 27, 2018, the Alibag Police, claiming to have received secret information on alleged cow slaughter, raided a residential premises and seized ‘cattle flesh’.
The police team claimed it had called the veterinary doctor to the premises to collect the meat sample, and the analysis showed it belonged to a cow.
During the trial, however, the court noted inconsistencies in the collection of the sample found at the house, highlighting that while the police said the doctor was called to the raid site, the medic claimed to be at the police station.
‘Vishwa Hindu Parishad member was called to raid site’
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The men, through their lawyer Umang Shah, had then submitted that there was no independent panch witness from the locality where the raid was conducted. Instead, a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was called to the raid site, they said.
The court also noted that the Act empowers competent authorities by a notification in a public gazette to conduct raids, but the policemen gave no proof that they had such authority.
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