MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday refused to grant an interim stay on the state government’s beef ban law, but directed the state and the police authorities not to take action against anyone for possession of beef.
The order means the beef ban law, including Section 5D of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act that bans import of beef from outside the state and makes it a criminal offence to possess such meat, remains till the court finally decides the issue. The state will not be able to prosecute anyone in possession of beef from March 4, when the act came into force, till July 29 or till the HC finally decides the legality of the law.
“Possession of the beef (for the specified period) is not prosecutable by the state,” said a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak, adding, “The state and police authorities shall not invade the privacy of a citizen for the purpose of finding out as to what is in their possession is beef or any other form of meat.” The court also added that at the highest, an FIR can be registered against individuals, but no coercive steps can be taken.
Senior advocate Aspi Chinoy, and advocates Mihir Desai and Firoz Bharucha, counsel for the petitioners, had contended that the law was a violation of the fundamental right to choice of food. The petitioners had sought a stay on Section 5D. The judges, however, declined to grant a stay saying that though arguable points were made, it would go by the maxim of “judicial restraint” and the concept that when the state enacts a law, its legality is to be presumed. The court further said the state should be given an opportunity to file a detailed affidavit before the constitutional validity of the law could be decided.
Maharashtra advocate general Sunil Manohar had argued that there was no fundamental right to eat beef and the state was justified in bringing in a law to prevent cruelty to animals. The state had enacted a law to ban slaughter of cows in 1976. In 1995, it framed a law to also ban slaughter of bulls and bullocks and sent it for the approval of the President. The assent from the President came in February 2015 and on March 4, the state brought the law into force by issuing an official gazette. The MAPA Act banned slaughter of bulls and bullocks along with cows and any violation was punishable with a jail term of five years and a fine of up to Rs 10,000. The MAPA Act, departing from similar laws enacted in Gujarat and other states, also made it a criminal offence to possess beef even if the meat was imported from outside the state and punishable with a jail term of up to a year.
The HC said that as a result of the “sudden imposition of the ban on beef”, the meat which was lawfully in possession of individuals or legally imported, suddenly became illegal and punishable. People who were carrying on a business of slaughtering bulls and bullocks which was legal all these years, or individuals who had imported beef in tins or cans were given no chance before it was declared illegal and punishable, the HC said. “We are therefore of the view that the state not having granted a reasonable time for disclosing the beef products which are in possession of the citizen and resident of Maharashtra is patently unwarranted,” said the judges. The court has scheduled the case for final hearing from June 25.
TOI | Apr 30, 2015
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