Indian top court suspends cattle slaughter ban
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E-mail Xinhua, July 12, 2017
India's Supreme Court suspended a government law that would ban the trade of cattle for slaughter across the country, officials said.
The law mooted by Indian government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May ordered that cattle trade should be restricted for agricultural purposes (ploughing and dairy production) and not for slaughtering.
For the first time the cattle trade for slaughter cows (which Hindus consider holy), buffaloes and camels would be illegal.
The apex court on Tuesday extended to all of India the Madras high court order that put on hold the federal government's notification banning sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter.
"Needless to say that the interim direction issued by the Madurai bench of the Madras high court shall continue and extend to the entire country," the bench headed by India's Chief Justice J S Khehar said.
The government's order in May triggered protests and was seen as a move to hit poor farmers and India's vibrant meat and leather industry worth over 16 billion U.S. dollars in annual sales.
Critics also view it as an effort by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to implement Hindutva agenda to marginalize the Muslim minority community whose members are mostly seen associated with the trade of cattle slaughtering and other jobs related to the industry.
The controversial law have deprived farmers of a traditional source of income from selling non-milch and aging cattle. Most states in India have weekly cattle markets where animals are traded and these markets form primary source of supply for meat traders.
"The livelihood of people should not be affected by this," the court said.
Several states like Kerala and West Bengal have already showed reservation to the new law, stating federal government cannot dictate food habits of the people. Even some of the BJP's allies in the India's northeast - where beef is part of the daily diet - have opposed the move.
The government informed the court it would modify and reissue its May order. Reports said the government could exclude buffalo from the ban. Buffaloes are not considered sacred and its meat constitutes the major portion of India's beef exports.
Cow slaughtering is a sensitive issue in India and sometimes flares up communal passions. Beef, however, is part of diet to many minority groups in the country, who consume it without any taboo.
Modi has been criticizing the cow vigilantes. However, his rebuke has stopped neither attacks against cattle traders nor mob lynching in the name of beef eating.
Majority of Hindus consider cow to be sacred, and its slaughtering is banned in most Indian states. To defend cows, groups under the patronage of right-wing Hindu organizations have come up in rural areas of India to protect them and stop sale of beef. The groups routinely check vehicles and often beat up cattle traders.
Reports said in the past two years that nearly a dozen people were killed in attacks by cow vigilantes.
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