A sessions court in Gujarat has sentenced three men to life in prison for slaughtering cows, opening its judgment with passages from Hindu scriptures, among them the Vedas and the Manusmriti, on the sacred status of the animal.
Additional Sessions Judge Brijeshkumari Rameshwarsinh Rajput of the Kalol sessions court in Gandhinagar district, the principal trial court for serious crimes in the district, delivered the 76-page verdict in Gujarati on Monday, October 26.
The court convicted Wasim Shahabuddin Babu Qureshi, Mohammad Rafiq Mohammad Hanif Alibhai Qureshi and Ashfaq alias Salman Allarakha Abdul Behlim, all Muslims, under the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, as amended in 2017. Each received rigorous imprisonment (a prison term with hard labour) for life and a fine of ₹2 lakh (₹200,000), along with a concurrent 10-year term and a further ₹1 lakh fine on a related charge.
The case dates back to August 22, 2024, when Kalol police, acting on a tip-off, raided a house in Jamla village. According to the prosecution, officers caught the accused cutting up cows and recovered about 277 kg of beef valued at ₹55,400, along with knives, an axe, a weighing scale and vehicles. Live cattle found at the spot were moved to a cow shelter.
Six persons were arrested. The prosecution alleged that the accused bought weak or non-milking animals cheaply, had them slaughtered at the house for profit and planned to sell the beef to one Ghulam Moin.
The prosecution examined 54 witnesses and produced 18 pieces of documentary evidence. Defence lawyers argued that the complaint was filed before a forensic laboratory had confirmed that the meat was beef, and that investigators never properly examined the tools and vehicles they seized.
Rejecting these arguments, the judge found the charges proved beyond reasonable doubt on the testimony of the complainant, members of the raiding party, a veterinary doctor and independent panch witnesses (local residents who formally witness a police search). Remains of the slaughtered cows, including heads, legs and skin, had been found at the house, the court noted.
The court acquitted Ghulam Moin Mustaq Ahmed Qureshi and Vitthal alias Bhupat Senma, giving them the benefit of doubt. The first accused, Lalabhai Manilal Senma, died during the trial, and the court recorded that the evidence would have established the case against him. It also turned down the convicts’ plea for probation, as the offences carried sentences exceeding 10 years.
The judgment devotes its first four pages to the “importance of cows”, Scroll reported. Hindus regard the cow as sacred, and many call it Gau Mata, or Mother Cow.
The judgment cites the Manusmriti, an ancient Sanskrit text on social and religious law, which it says treats the cow as more than an animal and as a “pillar” of society and religion. “Sage Manu entrusted the primary responsibility for the protection and care of cattle to the ‘Vaishya’ class,” the judgment said. The Vaishyas are the third of the four traditional classes, or varnas, in Hindu society.
From the Rigveda, the oldest of the four Vedas, the court cited the description of the cow as “Adhanya”, one that should not be killed. It also retold the legend of Kamadhenu, a divine cow believed to be the ancestor of all cattle.
“The cow is regarded as the ‘mother of the world’, serving as an abode for 33 crore deities. Her four legs are symbolic of the four Vedas,” the court said. A crore is 10 million.
In the sentencing section, the court wrote, in LiveLaw’s translation from the Gujarati: “… despite being aware of the consequences, the accused brutally killed cows, which are like mothers, cut off their mouths, stomachs, legs and skins, and were caught red-handed while extracting 277 kg of beef from the cows and preparing to sell it. If such accused, who have cruelly cut the body parts of cows into pieces and separated them, are not punished in accordance with the law, then, over time, Gau Mata will become extinct from the earth.”
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi welcomed the verdict on the social media platform X. “This verdict under the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act is a clear message that the law will never spare those who commit cow slaughter in Gujarat. Protecting the cow mother is Gujarat’s unwavering resolve. Congratulations to the Gandhinagar Police and the government side for the accurate investigation and presenting strong evidence,” he wrote.
In 2011, when Narendra Modi, now India’s Prime Minister, was the state’s Chief Minister, Gujarat amended the law to impose a complete ban on cow slaughter and on the transport and sale of beef. A further amendment in 2017 made it the first Indian state to punish cow slaughter with life imprisonment.
Bail in road death cases
On the same Monday, the Juvenile Justice Board in Ernakulam, Kerala, which hears cases against those under 18, granted bail to the 17-year-old son of an Additional District Sessions Judge. The teenager was allegedly driving a Mercedes-Benz that hit a scooter in Kochi on October 25, killing Jayabalakrishnan, 55, who ran a roadside eatery.
Police first released him on station bail the same day. After protests by the victim’s family, they added a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and produced him before the Board, which granted bail citing the absence of previous criminal antecedents. The Kerala government has sought cancellation of the bail, and police have booked the judge, who owns the car, over allegations that he let his unlicensed son drive it.
In Delhi, a magistrate granted bail on September 27, 2025, to Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, accused of driving a BMW that hit a motorcycle near Dhaula Kuan earlier that month, killing Navjot Singh, 52, a Deputy Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry. According to the Free Press Journal, the court said CCTV footage had weakened the prosecution’s case that the death amounted to culpable homicide.
In another Delhi case, a Mahindra Thar hit 13-year-old Murshid’s bicycle in Vasant Kunj on October 15, 2025. Eyewitnesses said the driver reversed over him and drove away. On October 21, news agency ANI reported that police had arrested a 42-year-old woman, Pooja, who they said was driving the vehicle and had confessed during questioning. Police seized her driving licence, and she was granted bail. Rash driving and causing death by negligence, the charges registered in the case, are bailable offences under Indian law, which means an accused is generally entitled to bail.
