The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has declined to quash a complaint against a city-based studio for the illegal act of keeping and displaying a protected monkey species in 2020.
The court observed that at the stage of considering a prayer for quashing of criminal proceedings, the court is not required to conduct a detailed examination of the evidence or to determine whether the allegations would ultimately result in conviction. The NGO received social media posts, videos and screenshots about the presence of the monkey.
“The court is primarily required to examine whether the allegations in the complaint, when read along with the material placed on record, disclose the commission of an offence and whether the proceedings are manifestly attended with mala fides or are otherwise an abuse of the process of law,” it said adding that in the case in hand the complaint is not based merely on a bald allegation. “The absence of recovery is a circumstance which may be considered by the learned trial court along with the other evidence,” it said, adding the prosecution relies upon electronic material and other circumstances to establish the alleged possession of the animal and the same would be examined during the course of proceedings by the trial court.
