Why did the Madras High Court order a total ban on cow slaughter in Tamil Nadu ahead of Bakrid?
The Madras High Court has ordered a total ban on cow and calf slaughter across Tamil Nadu, ruling that bovine sacrifice is not an obligatory part of Bakrid.
by Zee Media Bureau · Zee NewsAs a part of the wider legal intervention before the commencement of religious festivities, the Madras High Court has now ordered that no cow or calf should be slaughtered in the entire state of Tamil Nadu, either on the eve of Bakrid or any other day of the year. On the merits of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) case seeking to ban any public act of slaughter of bovine animals in Tamil Nadu, a division bench composed of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan ordered that no lawful act of animal sacrifice could be allowed unregulated.
Judgment ruling: "The slaughter of any permissible animal can only be carried out in slaughterhouses established and approved by competent authorities under the rules," it declared, adding that all other forms of sacrifice or animal killing would constitute a violation of the order.
Rigorous instruction issued to Chief Secretary and ADGP (Law & Order)
To make sure that such an important court order was followed rigorously in Tamil Nadu, without any procedural deviation, the High Court placed on record that it rested with the upper echelons of the state administrative machinery to ensure compliance.
High Court verdict: "The authorities, particularly the Chief Secretary to the Government and the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) are obliged to issue suitable instructions to all the officials concerned to ensure that there is no breach of this order," the court said.
Police authority in designation of 'temporary slaughter facilities' disapproved by HC
The court rendered its verdict while disposing of a petition by K. Surya (aka K. Surya Prasanth) from Coimbatore City alleging that the preparations for cow killings were taking place in open unauthorized areas during the Bakrid festival.
Noting the content of an affidavit from a concerned police officer, the bench displayed dissatisfaction at the idea that the police had on their own identified "temporary facilities" to conduct the killings.
No autonomy of police to designate slaughter locations: The bench doubted the validity of the affidavit, as the police have no power to designate such facilities for animal killings on their own.
Only municipal authorisation is valid: The court clarified that only certain statutory and municipal authorities designated under the state legislation could validly authorize animal killings in slaughterhouses.
Precedent decisions of the SC in relation to the festival
While addressing the religious aspects associated with the upcoming festival, the High Court leaned heavily on well-settled decisions of the Supreme Court in order to hold that the ban on bovine slaughter would not constitute infringement of religious freedom.
In this regard, the bench made clear that cow slaughter could never be described as an obligatory or mandatory act in terms of religious principles of the faith.
"The Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that many Muslims do not sacrifice cows on Bakrid day," the bench noted. "Sacrifice of any animal by the Muslims for the religious purpose on Bakrid does not include the slaughtering of cows as the only way of carrying out that sacrifice. Slaughtering of cows on this occasion is neither essential to nor necessarily required as part of the religious ceremony."
Article 48 of the constitution and economic objectives of the state protected
In deciding whether to enforce the state ban on bovine slaughter, the high court largely followed the principles laid down in Article 48 of the Constitution of India, where the State was asked to endeavor in all possible ways to prohibit cow slaughter.
In considering the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, which allows the killing of cows above 10 years old only under certain conditions as being incapable, the Court held that since such a provision is in conflict with the intention behind Article 48, it has to be read in the most restricted sense.
Moreover, the Court recognized the legality of a Government Order imposing a prohibition on cow slaughter, as it was passed purely for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of the rural agrarian economy through increased milk production. As an executive order is binding on all persons, the Court has made cow slaughter a statutory crime.