'Shocking': Karnataka High Court Slams Police For Registering Cow-Theft FIR 2 Years After Animals Went Missing

The Karnataka High Court today quashed an FIR registered against a family for the alleged theft of two cows, strongly criticising the police for registering the case nearly two years after the animals had gone missing and describing the episode as a "classic illustration of abuse of criminal justice system". [2026 LiveLaw (Kar) 258]

A single judge bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna, while allowing the petition filed by the accused, observed that the police machinery had been completely misused by the complainant, and the police registered the theft complaint without conducting any preliminary inquiry into whether the cows even belonged to the complainant.

Expressing shock at the police action, the Court orally remarked:

“...When somebody is killed, they [police] would be like 'wait, we are searching the cows'... Not saying animals should not be searched, but two years later you register a complaint?”

The petitioners, arraigned as accused Nos. 1 to 4, had approached the High Court challenging Crime No. 47/2026 registered at MK Doddi Police Station under Section 303(2) (theft) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

According to the complainant, his two cows had gone missing on August 18, 2024, after being sent out for grazing. However, he lodged the complaint only on March 26, 2026—nearly 24 months later.

Questioning the police's decision to act on such a delayed complaint, the Court observed in its order:

“...It is shocking that the complainant registers a crime two years after the alleged missing of cow and police without any preliminary enquiry about when the cow has gone missing and how the petitioner is alleging it is his cow or otherwise, registers a crime and issue notices to petitioners for appearance.”

The Court noted that, despite the inordinate delay, the police registered the FIR and issued notices to the accused without conducting even a preliminary verification.

“...The cows go missing not yesterday but 24 months ago. He runs to the police station, registers a complaint, the police without any rhyme or reason, registers a complaint for theft... The moment the crime is registered, the police machinery is put to action for allegedly stealing a cow 24 months ago...,” the Court observed.

Justice Nagaprasanna further held that allowing the investigation to continue would amount to rewarding speculative allegations.

“...If this case were to be permitted even to be investigated, it would be putting a premium on complainant's registration of complaint, and the story that he has told... that it was sent for grazing 24 months ago and it did not come back to the house. Non-return of the cows to the house on the evening of 18.08.2024 has resulted in registration of complaint 24 months later. This is a classic illustration of abuse of criminal justice system by complainant and the police giving hand to the complainant for such abuse...,” the Court said.

Coming down heavily on the complainant, the Court observed that the criminal justice system had been misused over a mere suspicion that the petitioners possessed the missing cattle.

“The police machinery or the criminal justice system is completely abused and misused by the complainant for the plea of thieving of two cows which even today he does not know whether it belongs to him or not. It is only his wild guess that they are missing for two years, hence the cows must be with the petitioners...,” the Court observed.

While orally suggesting that the complainant could pursue civil remedies and that costs ought to be imposed for misuse of the police machinery, the Court ultimately refrained from doing so and quashed the FIR.

Context

While staying the investigation and FIR in the same case, the Karnataka High Court on April 27 orally reprimanded the Police for not registering "real crimes" and instead lodging a case over missing cows.

The accused, all relatives, have been accused of the offence under Section 303(2) [Theft] of BNS, 2023, registered at M.K.Doddi Police Station.

“Two cows went missing in 2024…An entire family is being roped into the web of criminal proceedings in 2026 since the cows have not been traced…If this were to be permitted to continue, it would become an abuse of the process law on the face of it…”, the court dictated in its order and granted an interim stay on further investigation.

Before parting, the court had also orally pulled up the Police for not addressing the serious crimes happening right in front of it.

“…Real crimes, you don't register…You knock on the police station 100 times to register a real crime. But two cows went missing two years ago, then you registered a crime”, the court orally said to the state's counsel.

Case Title: Mangalamma v. State of Karnataka & Anr.

Case No: CRL.P 5266/2026

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Kar) 258