The Tis Hazari Court of Delhi witnessed a different variety of melodrama with exclusively bovine characters, on Monday.

The petitioner was seeking the reunion of a three-month old calf with her mother, who was picked up by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials from Shahdara.

The petioner’s, Ved Prakash, cow had been impounded by MCD officials in July. He, however, claimed it was tied to a fence on his property and wrongly taken away. For its part, the civic agency contended that the cow had been caught because it was roaming like a stray.

In reply to the petition, quoting an order passed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna of Delhi High court last year, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Tees Hazari court Vinod Yadav said, "In October, the high court had said that stray cattle cannot be released and be put under different cow shelters run by Delhi government. Therefore, the mother of the calf who was taken away on July 2 cannot be released."

Prakash (60), a resident of north east Delhi, took a frail calf, with its ribs showing through the pelt, right inside the court to demonstrate the animal's plight without its impounded mother. Prakash also feels that the calf might die without its mother if they are not united soon. Also, it is still too young and has to be fed forcefully.