Karnataka high court stays cow theft case booked 20 months late

Bengaluru: Criticising police for not registering what it termed as "real crimes," the Karnataka high court has stayed proceedings against four members of a family in a cow theft case."Real crimes, you don't register ... You knock on a police station 100 times to register a real crime. But two cows went missing two years ago, then you registered a crime," Justice M Nagaprasanna orally observed while granting interim relief to Mangalamma and three others of her family, who had challenged the case registered by MK Doddi police in Channapatna taluk.The complainant, Dasaiah, alleged that one Shekar had informed him that Mangalamma and her family members had sold two cows, which had gone missing in Aug 2024. Based on the information, an FIR was registered against the family in March 2026.The petitioners claimed that the inordinate delay in lodging the complaint casts serious doubts on the credibility of the complaint. On the other hand, police maintained that it is a cognisable offence and hence they are duty-bound to register the same.Justice M Nagaprasanna noted that there was a significant delay in lodging the complaint, without any plausible explanation. Allowing such proceedings to continue would amount to an abuse of the process of law on the face of it. The criminal law should not be invoked lightly or used as a means of harassment, the judge added while granting the interim relief.
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