CPI-ML Moves Calcutta HC Against Bengal Govt's Enforcement Of 1950 Animal Slaughter Law, Calls It Attempt To Curb 'Ritualistic Sacrifice'

The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation West Bengal unit has moved the Calcutta High Court seeking urgent judicial intervention against the state BJP Government's move to invoke the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, to allegedly impose restrictions on ritual livestock sacrifice.

The plea is set to come up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen.

Notably, the state government had announced the enforcement of the 1950 law to curb the slaughter of animals including cows and buffaloes unless certified by a veterinarian. 

The notification further stipulated that an animal may only be fit to slaughter if permanently incapacitated or above 14 years of age.

The plea, filed as a public interest litigation (PIL), contends that the proposed restrictions would infringe the religious freedoms of the Muslim community and adversely impact the livelihoods of farmers and cattle traders, many of whom belong to the Hindu community.

According to a statement issued by the party's West Bengal unit, the PIL challenges what it describes as “severe punitive restrictions” sought to be imposed through reliance on an “outdated” law dating back to 1950.

The petitioners have argued that the move amounts to an assault on multiple constitutional freedoms, including the right to religious practice, the right to livelihood, and citizens' freedom of food choice.

“The move is an assault simultaneously on the religious freedom of the Muslim community, on the livelihood of farmers engaged in cattle trade (who are mostly from the Hindu community), on the freedom of citizens to eat according to their choice and on the culinary diversity of West Bengal,” the statement said.