The Supreme Court on Friday said that it can’t pass any order that imposes a total ban on slaughter of cattle and also preserve them from slaughtering and smuggling.
While refusing to entertain a PIL seeking a complete ban on cow slaughter, a bench comprising CJI JS Khehar and Justice NV Ramana said it ‘cannot direct states to frame laws for the same’.
“A state may decide to ban it while another may decide not to. We cannot interfere in such decisions,” the bench observed.
Sarvesh Bisaria, petitioner Vineet Sahai’s counsel, argued that many states had banned cow slaughter but some still allowed it, thus resulting in rampant illegal transportation of cattle.
“Moreover, there is no policy in place to regulate inter-state transportation of cattle," he noted.
To this, the SC bench said that that various orders have been passed by the court in the past on measures to be adopted to prevent illegal inter-state transportation of cattle.
"Committees have been put in place by states to prevent illegal cattle transportation," the bench said and dismissed the PIL.
Cows, considered sacred by Hindus, have been at the centre of debate in the country for a long time. India, being a union of states has different laws for cow and cattle slaughter in different states. While some states have completely banned slaughter of cattle including bulls, bullocks and buffalo, some haven't even banned cow slaughter.
In total, there are eight states (Kerala, West Bengal, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim) where cow slaughter and sale of its meat is legal, two states where slaughter is conditional and sale is legal. Other 26 states and UTs have banned cow slaughter.
