The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused urgent listing of a plea seeking enforcement of anti-cow slaughter laws ahead of Eid al-Adha (Bakrid), scheduled for May 28.
The matter was orally mentioned before the Vacation Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi by Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, who sought immediate listing of the petition on the ground that if the Court found merit in the plea, interim directions could be issued for enforcement of anti-cow slaughter laws before the festival.
The Bench, however, declined to treat the matter as urgent and refused to grant priority listing, observing that the petition had been brought at the last moment.
Filed by Satish Kumar Aggarwal, former vice-president of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, the plea sought enforcement of statutory prohibitions and regulatory measures governing cattle slaughter across various States. It further sought directions for stricter implementation of existing legal frameworks regulating slaughterhouses and transportation of cattle during the Bakrid festival period.
Anti-cow slaughter laws in India are primarily governed by State legislations enacted under constitutional entries relating to agriculture, animal preservation and public order. Several States, including Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan, have enacted stringent statutory prohibitions on the slaughter of cows and specified categories of cattle, with penal consequences for violations.
The petition further sought the formulation and notification of uniform operational guidelines for slaughterhouses to ensure compliance with applicable statutory provisions, apart from the enforcement of existing laws.
The issue of regulation of animal slaughter ahead of Bakrid also recently came up before the Calcutta High Court, which declined interim relief against a notification issued by the Government of West Bengal for implementation of the provisions of the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950.
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