HC refuses stay on beef ban during Eid

The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to grant any sort of interim stay on the existing ban on slaughters of bulls and sale of beef during the upcoming Bakr-Eid festival in Maharashtra. 

The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, which came into force this March, bans slaughter of bulls and sale of beef, though slaughter of water buffaloes has been allowed. 

Hearing a bunch of petitions, a division bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Justices Abhay Oka and V L Achliya refused to give any interim stay on the norms.

 The petitions had sought relaxation of the rule on slaughter of bulls and sale of beef from September 25-27 in view of Bakr-Eid. 

“We are not inclined to grant any drastic interim relief at this stage which would amount to a stay on Section 5 of the Maharashtra Preservation of Animals (Amendment) Act,” said the court.  Advocates for petitioners Gayatri Singh and Ejaz Naqvi argued that slaughter of animals is a crucial part of the Muslim community's religious practice.