New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking enactment of a law prohibiting the slaughter of cows and the sale of beef and such products across the National Capital Region, terming it as “misconceived”.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath declined to entertain the plea after the AAP government informed the court that there was already the ‘Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act’ to protect cattle.
Additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose, appearing for the state government, further said the petition was a publicity stunt and should be dismissed with exemplary cost.
Ghose informed the court that under the Act, “no person shall transport or offer for transport or cause to be transported agricultural cattle from any place within Delhi to any place outside Delhi, for the purpose of its slaughter, knowing that it is likely to be slaughtered.”
The counsel said the Delhi government had five shelter homes with a capacity of 23,000 but the population of cattle is around 10,000.
“If the petitioner has any such cattle, he can send them to us,” the counsel said.
The petition, filed by one Swami Satyananda Chakradhari, had sought directions to the Delhi government to enact a law similar to the 1932 Ranbir Penal Code, applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, which states that slaughter of cows and “like animals” was punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment as well as a financial penalty.