MR. SUNIL MALHOTRA & ORS. vs STATE, NCT OF DELHI & ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~3 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 16.04.2026 + W.P.(CRL) 581/2026 MR. SUNIL MALHOTRA & ORS. .....Petitioners Through: Ms. Puja Anand and Ms. Manisha Parmar, Advocates with petitioners in person. versus STATE, NCT OF DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Anand V. Khatri, ASC for State with SI Sumit and HC Ravi Bansal, PS Jagatpuri. Mr. Siddharth Chaturvedi and Mr. Mayank Sharma, Advocates for R-3 with R-3 in person. CORAM: JUSTICE GIRISH KATHPALIA J U D G M E N T (ORAL) 1. Petitioners have assailed orders dated 11.08.2025 and 30.01.2026 of the learned trial court pertaining to release of three pet dogs on superdari in the trial pertaining to offence under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. 2. Broadly speaking, according to prosecution case a raid was conducted at the premises of the present respondent no.3 in which few dogs were found kept in deplorable conditions and were rescued. The rescued dogs were W.P.(CRL) 581/2026 Page 1 of 3 pages Digitally signed by GIRISH KATHPALIA DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF DELHI, GIRISH 2.5.4.20=8401dd889b27a77b2f65ffffe4afe c45569af3962c6fb4835d435f97626cacca, ou=HIGH COURT OF DELHI,CID - 7047638, KATHPALIA postalCode=110003, st=Delhi, Signature Not Verified serialNumber=d3e86796451ec45c07b5d1 5570996b40f80cbd2eee60402c487965ff80 1e26fa, cn=GIRISH KATHPALIA Date: 2026.04.16 06:14:13 -07'00' Digitally Signed By:RAHUL YADAV Signing Date:16.04.2026 18:18:17 handed over by the police to the present respondent no.2/NGO. Thereafter, the respondent no.2/NGO gave three of those dogs in adoption to the present petitioners. Subsequently, the present respondent no.3 claiming himself to be the rightful owner filed an application for superdari, which was allowed by the learned trial court, thereby