Traders mulling legal options to challenge the BJP-led govt’s move
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: Nineteen years after a bill was passed by the then government in Maharashtra, President Pranab Mukherjee has finally signed the ‘Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act 1995’ which brings in harsher clauses towards a complete ban on calf slaughter. Beef traders said they are mulling if they can take legal recourse against the government’s move.
Under the new Act, the crime of slaughtering the animals covered under the ban will be non-bailable punishable with five years in prison with fine of Rs 10,000.
The President gave its assent on Monday, making Maharashtra the ninth Indian state to impose such a ban after Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Kerala and Gujarat.
With this, the BJP-led government in the state can now claim to have fulfilled one of its pre-poll assurance to make tough laws to check cattle slaughtering.
Interestingly, the move comes days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured the beef traders of total safety from harassment by the Hindu extremist groups.
Beef traders unhappy on government’s U-turn
Beef traders across Maharashtra were on strike for over a week in February to protest the alleged harassment being meted out to beef traders. Fadnvais had later assured protection to beef traders after a delegation met him, which led to the strike being called off.
Reuters had earlier reported that Hindu nationalists in India had stepped up attacks on the country’s beef industry, seizing trucks with cattle bound for abattoirs and blockading meat processing plants in a bid to halt the trade in the world’s second-biggest exporter of beef.
The slaughter of cows was previously prohibited in the state under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act of 1976. The new Act bans the slaughter of bulls as well as bullocks, which was previously allowed based on a ‘fit-for-slaughter certificate’.
The slaughter of cows is banned under schedule 5 of the Act passed in 1976. Schedule 6 of the Act, however, allowed the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, female buffaloes and buffalo calves with permission. The amendment now puts bulls, bullocks and calves under schedule 5 of the Act, which means a blanket ban on their slaughter.
While this is a particularly harsh law, legal provisions for restricting or banning cow slaughter are rather common: 26 states in India have laws which either regulate or ban cow slaughter.
Beef traders claim the move will not only render thousands jobless, but will also drive up the cost of other meats in the state.
Secretary of Govt Letter informing of President’s assent
The beef trade in the state is largely controlled by Muslims of the Qureshi caste. “Apart from rendering people jobless, the immediate effect will be the spiraling price of other meats as people will be forced to turn towards other options,” Mohammed Qureshi, president of the Mumbai Suburban Beef Dealer Association, told Indian Express.
Beef traders said they are checking if they can take legal recourse. “We are now holding deliberations to see if we can challenge this in any way. The beef traders have been impacted but it will be the farmers who will be affected the most. Who will care for the old and infirm animals that were earlier sold for meat?” Arif Chowdhury, an office bearer of the All India Jamiatul Quresh, an organisation of beef traders, said.
“A recent government report has stated that there is nearly 61 % fodder shortage in the state. By banning the slaughter of old and infirm animals, the government is doing grave injustice to the healthy animals and farmers of Maharashtra,” Rajendra Dhende, a beef trader from Sangli, had pointed out.
Hafiz Qureshi, another beef trader from Vidarbha region, told TwoCircles.net, “This will make scores jobless. There will be no weekly bazaar as there will be no buyers, which will mean farmers will suffer largely.”
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