| News Details |
| SAVE demands enactment of law to ban cow slaughter and sale of beef | |
Jammu, June 17 (Scoop News)- Ms. Devinder Kaur Madaan, Working President, Save Animals Value Environment (SAVE), an NGO working for the welfare of animals, has appealed to the Union Government and Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha to reconstitute the Animal Welfare Board to check animal abuse in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and revive the Act banning cow slaughter that was in vogue prior to abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, repealing the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), Section 298-A of RPC, that protected cows and its progeny from being slaughtered, which now stands repealed.
She said that after abrogation of Article 370, when this law to ban cow slaughter was repealed, Chief Secretary of UT was informed about the facts. Thereafter, the then Lt. Governor Shri G. C. Murmu was also apprised of the facts that had resulted in increase in smuggling of bovines. However, when nothing concrete was initiated from government side, a Writ Petition WP(C) PIL No.18/2020 was filed in the J&K High Court seeking directions to the Government to enact a law prohibiting slaughter of cows and its progeny. However, the Hon’ble Division Bench of the High Court gave liberty to the petitioner SAVE to approach the government for the purpose of enacting a law in J&K for banning cow slaughter. SAVE once again wrote to the UT Administration and also the Union Government and is still awaiting a law banning cow slaughter to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ms Devinder Kaur Madaan said that in the absence of a law in the UT, animals are being transported in oil tankers, pick up vans and vegetable trucks and even trucks carrying mineral water. The animals are being ill-treated while many even tie them and break their bones before smuggling to Jammu and Kashmir. Animal lovers appealed to the government to slap PSA on these smugglers as the money thus generated by them from this illegal trade of bovine smuggling and slaughter are used generally for fanning militancy and subversive activities in the region.
Mr Ravinder Kaul, Vice President SAVE, who is an economist, writer and internationally known cultural critic, observed that the Beef Ban Act, that protected cows and its progeny prior to abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution, also ensured communal harmony amongst all sections of the society. Now that the 157-year-old beef ban in Jammu and Kashmir stands lifted, there has been an increase in smuggling of bovine animals and now there is no check on them and there is no fear of law amongst the smugglers. Earlier, the law that was stringent, called for imprisonment up to ten years and a heavy fine. However, after it stands repealed, the smugglers are having a free run and there is rising resentment amongst law abiding communities whose religious sentiments are being ignored by the present regime.
‘The situation is so grim that it can trigger turmoil in the society at anytime’, Ms Madaan warned and said that the sooner we enact a stringent law, the better it would be for the UT and its subjects. It would also save animals from atrocities of smugglers, she added. The Animal Welfare Board also needs to be strengthened because, as of now, there is no check on the illegal breeding and sale of animals besides their illegal captivity in UT of Jammu and Kashmir, she emphasised. She also said that dairy animals are also not being properly kept and are abandoned because of lack of a strong Board and its constituents.
All 20 district bodies of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) stand constituted after the intervention of Court subsequent to filing of a PIL but they are not able to function properly unless Animal Welfare Board is reconstituted and starts functioning to its full capacity with sufficient funds kept at its disposal and required number of appointments on the Board made. She urged the Lt. Governor to expedite the task of reconstitution of Board so that SPCAs can also function properly.
Coming to cow slaughter issue, Ms. Madaan said that Article 298-A and Section 298-B of RPC enacted by Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jammu and Kashmir in 1862 had completely banned beef in the entire State. The law was intact till the abrogation of Article 370 and in these 157 years no previous state government ever dared to repeal this law that was stringent in nature and helped in maintaining Communal Harmony in the state of J&K.
States like Haryana, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, among others, have passed specific laws which protect the cows and their breed from slaughter and have made such an act a punishable offence under specific laws. For example, the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gau Samvardhan Act, 2015 passed by the Government of Haryana, The Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act, 2007, passed by the Government of Uttarakhand and the Jharkhand Bovine Animal Prohibition of Slaughter Act, 2005 passed by the Government of Jharkhand, have all made cow slaughter punishable.
Ms. Madaan said that very recently, the Government of Lakshdweep had also banned cow slaughter and made it a punishable offense. However, in Jammu and Kashmir, in the absence of any such law, the smugglers besides many butchers are having a free run. Ever since Article 370 has been repealed, there has been an increase in cases of bovine smuggling and in wake of these unhealthy developments, a stringent law is also needed here as soon as possible.
She informed that Jammu & Kashmir Law Commission, headed by Retired Justice M.K Hanjura, in its report submitted to the Chief Secretary in September 2019 had also recommended that the prohibition on slaughter of cows and other animals should be adopted in the Indian Penal Code for its re-enactment in the newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. She added that Constitution of India in its Part-IV (Directive Principles of State Policy) states that “The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.” Protection of the cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle is, therefore, a principle that should direct the policy of the government while framing laws for the welfare of the citizens, she said. All the animal lovers, respected citizens of the Society who were present at the press conference were of the view that unless a stringent law banning Cow Slaughter is enacted in UT of Jammu and Kashmir such slaughtering and smuggling of bovines will continue to increase and cause unrest amongst masses.
Respected citizens of J&K, animal lovers and members of SAVE, who were present in the Press Conference include General Secretary Hemlata Karki, Subhash Sharma, Radhika Malhotra, Payal Goswami, Sudhanshu, Abhishek Razdan, Kaushal Sharma and Sunny Dua.
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