Supreme Court Issues Notice On PIL Seeking Ban On Animal Sacrifices For Religious Rituals

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a public interest litigation seeking a ban on killing of animals in the name of religion.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order on a petition filed by Advocate Shruti Bist.

Briefly put, the PIL has been filed seeking a direction to the Ministry of Animal Husbandry to amend Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 so as to ban the killing of animals in the name of religion.

Section 28 is a savings clause, which states, "Nothing contained in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community."

The PIL cites different forms of animal cruelty, including: neglect and abandonment, physical and emotional abuse, animal hoarding, ritualistic animal abuse, use of animals in entertainment, animal testing in laboratories, domestic violence and animal cruelty, and farm animal abuse.

"Dogs, cats, horses, and livestock are among the animals that suffer the most from abuse in India. Some people in India abuse animals for selfish gain, while others do it to demonstrate dominance or express disdain for innocent creatures", the petitioner states.

The petition argues that animal sacrifice has been a longstanding tradition within Hindu rituals, especially in worshipping deities like Ma Durga and Ma Kali. The practice waned with the rising influence of non-violence sentiment of Jainism and Buddhism, but later found its way back to Hinduism.

"Presently, regions like Bali, Indonesia, Nepal, and India-the Himalayas, northeastern India, parts of Orissa and Bengal, Maharashtra, and Southern India still uphold the practice of animal sacrifice. Usually, young male animals-full of life-are chosen for bali. In some outlier cases, people have chosen to sacrifice their young or even themselves as bali to the divine."

Case Title: SHRUTI BIST Versus MINISTRY OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, Diary No. 66314-2025