Bombay HC reserves verdict in petition challenging beef ban

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday reserved its verdict in the petitions challenging the Maharashtra government's law banning beef. A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Suresh Gupte, that heard extensive arguments, did not specify a date for the judgment.

The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act was enacted in March 2015 and bans the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, in addition to an earlier ban on the slaughter of cows. The law makes the sale of of bulls, bullocks for slaughter a crime, punishable with a jail term of up to five years and a fine of Rs 10,000.

Section 5D says that possession of meat of a cow, bull or bullock, even if slaughtered outside the state, is also an offence which can be punished with one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000. Many of the petitions have focussed their challenge on section 5D, that makes possession a crime.

The ban on beef, the petitioners represented by different advocates, including senior advocates Aspi Chinoy and Mihir Desai and advocates J P Sen and Firoz Bharucha have claimed that the ban on beef is a violation of the fundamental right to life and liberty, especially the right to be left alone.

Maharashtra advocate general SG Aney, justified the ban, contending that there was no fundamental right to choice of food and or any right to eat beef. The state also claimed that the making possession of beef a crime was necessary in order to ensure effective implementation of the ban.

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