Allahabad High Court refuses to quash FIR against former minister Haji Yaqub Qurashi for running unlicensed meat processing business

The Allahabad High Court last week refused to quash a First Information Report (FIR) against former minister Haji Yaqub Qurashi in a case concerning unlicensed meat processing business [Haji Yaqub Qurashi v State of UP]..A Bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rajnish Kumar found that since the business was running without due authority or lawful permission from the competent authority, no interference was required..The FIR that was sought to be quashed alleged offences of cheating, spreading infection, adulteration of food or drink, sale of noxious food, and criminal conspiracy.It stated that the premises had of 6,720 kilograms of fresh open meat, and 1.250 kilograms bones along with 2,40,438.5 kilograms processed meat. The FIR claimed that this was causing huge inconvenience to public as meat items were not kept safely, and were generating a foul and unbearable odour..Qurashi, however, said that the commercial activity was being undertaken on the premises after obtaining permission and licenses from time to time.The Court said that packaging of food products, including meat can be undertaken only if the concerned person has a valid license to ascertain whether the activity was being carried out lawfully or not.As per the Qurashi's supplementary affidavit, their licence was dated 28 March 2017 and was only operative till 27 March 2022. No extension had been placed on record..The bench considered the allegations that the unit was not only processing previously stored meat, but was also bringing in fresh meat to the premises despite the expiry of the license.“This prima facie gives an indication that the unit was indulging in unlawful act of processing of meat etc., without an authority of law,” the Court observed. .Therefore, it was found that the allegations were partly intact and the court could not embark on a factual enquiry in a quashing plea. Once it was found that there no lawful permission, the Court said it would not be justified in examining the facts to determine their correctness.With this, the petition was dismissed..Senior Advocate Rajan Upadhyay appeared for the petitioners while the State was represented by Government Advocate Munesh Kumar..[Read Order]