Cow slaughter: Back to 1964 law?

The Congress government may restore a 1964 law that allowed butchering of some categories of cattle if it decides to overturn the blanket ban on cow slaughter, according to a top source in the administration.

The 1964 Act allowed slaughter of bulls, bullocks and buffaloes aged over 12 years or if they were unfit for breeding or did not yield milk as opposed to the total ban imposed when the BJP was in power.

Having already made moves to withdraw a law that liberalised agricultural trading (APMC) and another that regulated religious conversions, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s government has not yet taken a policy decision on rolling back prohibition on cow slaughter, which the Congress had promised to do if voted to power.

“Bringing back the 1964 Act is being thought of to replace the cow slaughter ban,” a highly-placed source said.

This plan is straight out of Siddaramaiah’s playbook.

In 2010, when B S Yediyurappa was the chief minister, the BJP government got a Bill passed replacing the 1964 law. The BJP’s Bill had widened the definition of “cattle” and imposed a blanket ban on cattle slaughter, coupled with stringent penalty clauses for violation.

The Bill was before the President for assent when, in 2013, the Congress came to power under Siddaramaiah, who withdrew it and restored the 1964 Act.

In 2021, the BJP government again replaced the 1964 Act with a stringent law that imposed a blanket ban on the slaughter of cows. The only slaughter allowed is of terminally-ill cattle. Also, buffaloes above the age of 13 years can be slaughtered with permission.

This is said to have forced farmers to either take care of cows even after they become barren or simply abandon them.

The law introduced by the BJP defined cattle as “cow, calf of a cow and bull, bullock of all ages and he or she buffalo below the age of thirteen years”.

The Congress government is said to be wary of political implications in view of the Lok Sabha elections next year. Hindu seers have publicly urged Siddaramaiah not to withdraw the cow slaughter law. The Congress is worried about losing votes and the BJP branding it as “anti-Hindu”.