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KOLKATA: Cow sacrifice is neither a part of Eid-uz-Zuha nor a religious requirement under Islam, Calcutta HC said on Thursday while refusing to quash the Bengal govt’s order regulating cattle slaughter ahead of the festival or grant interim relief based on a batch of PILs challenging the administration’s directive.The division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen asked the state to consider within 24 hours whether an exemption could be granted under the same 1950 law cited in the order, pointing out the festival falls on May 27-28. The BJP govt’s May 13 order mentions the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, and a 2018 HC order, both of which mandate the prohibition of cow and buffalo slaughter unless a certificate is obtained that the animal “is fit for slaughter.”
HC asked the state to examine if Article 12 of the 1950 Act, which empowers govt to allow slaughter of otherwise restricted animals for religious, medicinal or research purposes, could be invoked in this case. The judges also directed the state to consider incorporating a condition that animal slaughter could not take place in open public places.On the constitutionality of the 1950 Act, challenged in several of the PILs, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee argued the law was meant only for Kolkata and other municipalities rather than the entire state. The bench declined to intervene on this.Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s counsel Nilotpal Chatterjee said the civic body had slaughterhouses with the necessary infrastructure and designated officials to issue fit-for-slaughter certificates. HC said the onus was on the state to examine whether a proper mechanism exists for issuing such certificates. “If any deficiency is found by the state, we hope and trust that the same shall be cured at the earliest.”
