Officer-In-Charge Police Station Bakamuna vs. Moihomed Haniffa Mohommed Illiyas – CA PHC 3/16-2020

In the case between Navur Pichchei Moosin (Petitioner-Appellant) and the Officer-In-Charge, Police Station Bakamuna & Hon. Attorney General (Respondents-Respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether the forfeiture/confiscation of a vehicle, used for transporting cattle unlawfully, was properly ordered under Section 3A of the Animals Act. It was held that to avoid confiscation, the registered owner was required to prove only one of the statutory grounds—either that all possible precautions were taken to prevent misuse or that the vehicle was used without the owner’s knowledge—not both. The established principle reaffirmed the sufficiency of proving either limb, not a cumulative standard. This decision relied on statutory interpretation of Section 3A, supported by relevant precedent