The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court bench recently held that that mere possession of a dead animal’s skin would not amount to an offence under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1976, which prohibits slaughtering, importing, exporting and possessing beef.

As per a report in The Indian Express, the bench of Justice V. M. Deshpande & Anil S. Kilor noted that there is no prohibition for the possession of skin of dead animals under the Act and further noted that even if any circular/notification/order is issued by the state government, prohibiting possession of skin, such circular will not prevail over the provisions of the statute.