Karnataka: As minister backs anti-halal protests, slaughter norm order raises fears

With most slaughterhouses operating from small facilities, few meet the stunning requirement. Plus, whether the meat of an animal killed after stunning could qualify as halal is a grey area.

An anti-halal campaign has been going on in Karnataka coinciding with the Kannada New Year of Ugadi (this year observed on Saturday), marked by many Hindus by eating meat the day after. The Hindu right-wing outfits have been urging Hindus to not buy meat from halal shops, with incidents reported of Bajrang Dal men assaulting Muslim shop and restaurant owners.

On Saturday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai instructed DCs and SPs of all districts to take necessary measures to ensure peaceful celebrations. “Festivals should be celebrated without any disruption in law and order,” he said.

On a question about a campaign by some pro-Hindu outfits against halal meat, Bommai said officials had been instructed to hold peace meetings in their areas.

At the same time, Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Minister Shashikala Jolle said he backed the protests against halal meat. “The halal vs non-halal meat is very much an issue in coastal Karnataka, if not in other parts of the state. Whatever our Hindu outfits are doing appears right. They are spreading awareness about the ‘jhatka cut’ of the animal because it has to be offered to god,” he told reporters.

An official in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike admitted that the Animal Husbandry Department’s letter was a routine order during Ugadi, and that it is barely followed with few slaughterhouses equipped with shock facilities to stun animals.

A Veterinary Department official who spoke to The Sunday Express on condition of anonymity said the state doesn’t have enough registered slaughterhouses for stunning the animal. “The order cannot be implemented but can be used as a tool to impose fines on slaughterhouses,” the official said.

The Central government order requiring stunning before slaughter of any animal or bird dates back to March 23, 2001, and falls under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (Slaughter House) Rules 2001 section (6) subsection (4).

Khasim Shoaibur Rahaman Qureshi, the president of the All India Jamaithul Qureshi of Karnataka, an organisation of butchers in the state, said the latest notification would be used to target halal meat sellers. “There are very few large meat exporters who have the facility. Has the government modernised slaughterhouses for this? And who even knows about this rule?”

Santosh, who owns two meat shops in Bengaluru and is anticipating good business this year due to the social media campaign for jhatka meat compared to halal, also expressed ignorance about stunning. “Where is the awareness and where are the facilities? The Animal Husbandry Department is so corrupt that one can get a licence for a butcher shop for Rs 2,000.”

Ramanna K N, who says he has run a butcher shop in Mysuru for 30 years, said customers prefer halal meat as it lasts longer. “You can store it in your refrigerator and can use it for four-five days. The other meat is not as healthy.”