Mumbai, Nov. 14 -- The Bombay High Court recently set aside a six-month externment order against a cattle trader from Bhiwandi, observing that it was "shocking and surprising" that the Maharashtra government had issued it based on a criminal offence that a division bench of the court had stayed in August 2025. A single-judge bench of justice Madhav Jamdar also directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs.10,000 to the 39-year-old man in four weeks, noting that his fundamental right to move freely across the country had been affected by the "mala fide action" of the state. "It is settled legal position that an order of externment is an extraordinary measure and the effect of such an order is of depriving a citizen of his fundamental right of free movement throughout the territory of India," justice Jamdar said. The cattle trader, Mohammed Azam Usmaan Siddiqui, had approached the high court earlier this year, challenging two orders under which he was externed from the Thane and Palghar districts for six months for offences linked to the illegal transport and sale of cattle. The first order was issued by the deputy commissioner of police (zone II), Bhiwandi, on December 23, 2025, followed by an appeal decided by the divisional commissioner of the Konkan Division on October 27. Siddiqui's counsel, Mateen Shaikh, told the court that the police had relied on three offences against his client to extern him. Two of them were filed in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and had no live link or active connection with the externment order, he argued. The third offence was lodged in April 2025 at the Bhoiwada police station in Bhiwandi, under provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act (MAPA) related to the transport and sale of cattle intended for slaughter. Shaikh told HT that Siddiqui has been in the cattle trade for 20 years and the animals he was accused of trading illegally were 22 male buffaloes, which does not amount to an offence under the MAPA. Justice Jamdar noted that a division bench had, in separate proceedings, stayed further proceedings in the case under MAPA on August 1, 2025. The bench had observed that the application of MAPA sections involving the illegal transport and sale of cattle in the case was prima facie "misplaced". The judge also observed that the offences of alleged robbery and a non-cognizable offence were registered against Siddiqui in 2018 and 2017, respectively. "Therefore, it cannot be said that there is any live link between the action of externment, which has been taken in the year 2025, and the said offences of the year 2017 and 2018," justice Jamdar said....