Bombay HC asks Maharashtra govt to spell out days for ban on meat sale

The court further said it will consider if such a ban is correct in law and if it amounts to violation of one’s fundamental rights, at a later stage

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to come up with a system to schedule and notify dates in advance on which it proposes to prohibit slaughter or sale of meat owing to religious festivals.

A bench headed by Justice Anoop V Mohta directed the government to file a reply by Thursday, responding to the court’s direction. “The court has to monitor this issue of banning meat on religious festivals each year. The government will have to evolve a permanent system after consulting with all parties concerned. Such matters must be handled in a mature manner. There has to be an arrangement in the society to ensure citizens are not adversely affected,” Justice Mohta said.

The court further said it will consider if such a ban is correct in law and if it amounts to violation of one’s fundamental rights, at a later stage.

The bench was hearing a petition filed in 2015 by the Bombay Mutton Dealers’ Association challenging a circular issued at the time by the BMC and the state government imposing a ban on slaughter and sale of mutton and chicken for four days in September in 2015, owing to Paryushan, the period of abstinence observed by Jains.

At the time, a bench of Justice Mohta and Justice A A Sayyed had stayed the ban imposed upon sale of meat but had refused to interfere with the ban on slaughter of animals.

The bench had also directed the government to come up with guidelines and a system to notify days on which slaughter of meat will be banned, after taking all stakeholders into confidence.

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