SC upholds Gujarat cow slaughter ban

NEW DELHI: In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the 1994 ban imposed on cow slaughter by the then Congress government in Gujarat.

A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti thereby allowed appeals filed by the state government and two others against a Gujarat High Court order.
The 1998 order had held as unconstitutional the total ban on cow slaughter ordered by the Gujarat government in 1994. 

The High Court said the government order ''imposed an unreasonable restriction'' on the fundamental rights of the petitioner (Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab) and to that extent it was ultra vires de constitution. There would not be a total ban on slaughter of bulls or bullocks above the age of 16 years, the High Court added.

It was the contention of the state before the apex court that the ban was imposed in public interest keeping in mind the provisions in Article 31 (c) mandating it to give effect to fundamental duties of the citizens enumerated under the directive principles of the constitution which included article 51 A(g) providing that ''all  should have compassion for living creatures ''.

However, Justice A K Mathur gave a dissenting judgement and upheld the order of the high court.   The other judges on the bench were Justice B N Agarwal, Justice Arun Kumar, Justice G P Mathur, Justice C K Thakker and Justice P K Balasubramanyam.