In a recent order dated July 22, the Karnataka High Court stayed all proceedings against a man accused of having wrongfully confined his neighbour's pet cat named Daisy.
A bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna granted interim relief to a man named Taha Hussain by staying all proceedings against him till his petition is diposed by the court.
Hussain's neighbour filed a police complaint against him over missing pet Daisy, following which the police booked him on charges of criminal intimidation, breach of peace, and insulting the modesty of a woman under Sections 504, 506, and 509 of the Indian Penal Code.
"The crux of the allegation is, a cat by name Daisy, owned by respondent No.2 – complainant goes missing as it jumps from wall to wall of the houses adjacent to it. Therefore, a complaint for the aforesaid offences is alleged against this petitioner for holding the cat. The allegation is that the cat was in the house of the petitioner as could be seen from the CCTV footage," the court noted in its order staying the criminal proceedings against Hussain.
Lawyer appearing for Hussain told the court that cats will get in and go out from the windows and permitting further proceedings on such a frivolous complaint for the alleged offences under Sections 504, 506 and 509 of the IPC, would clog the criminal justice system.
Hussain's lawyer further informed the court that the police had registered an FIR against him following a complaint by his neighbour, who claimed that he had taken her cat.
When the court questioned that how the police concluded that the Daisy the cat, was confined in Hussain's house, the counsel told the high court that the police check the CCTV footage from the area which showed tha cat was present in Hussain's house at one point of time. The lawyer attributed this presence to the Cat's habbit of climbing walls on neighbouring houses.
The high court while staying all proceedings against Hussain said, that permitting further proceedings in such frivolous cases will clog the criminal justice system. Therefore there shall be an interim order of stay on further proceedings till the disposal of the petition.